OBJECTIVE To explore the nature of interactions between midwives and breast-feeding women within postnatal wards. DESIGN A critical ethnographic study using participant observation and focused interviews. SETTING Two maternity units in Northern England, UK. PARTICIPANTS 61 postnatal women and 39 midwives. FINDINGS The interactions between midwives and women were encompassed by the globa...

BACKGROUND Current practice guidelines recommend active management of the third stage of labor. We compared practices of three maternity care provider disciplines in management of third-stage labor and the justifications for their approach. METHODS This study is a cross-sectional survey of maternity practitioners in usual practice settings in British Columbia. All 199 obstetricians, all 82 mi...

Despite a substantial increase in midwifery research since the early 1990's, there remains a lack of available research into the everyday practice of midwives. In general, hospitals are striving to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, so many hospital-based midwives are being exposed to hospital restructuring processes. The primary purpose of my research was to learn about the work patterns ...

Physiological and anatomical concepts about reproduction held by traditional midwives in Southern Oaxaca differ considerably from those of biomedicine. Government training courses for traditional midwives disregard these deep-seated differences, and also the underlying conceptual rationale of ethno-obstetrics. These courses constantly reinforce and actively promote the biomedical model of care....

BACKGROUND Infants exposed to alcohol in the womb are at increased risk of experiencing health problems. However, mixed messages about the consequences of prenatal alcohol consumption have resulted in inconsistent attitudes and practices amongst some healthcare practitioners. Screening and alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) can reduce risky drinking in various clinical settings. Recently, a pro...

OBJECTIVE the current division between midwife-led and obstetrician-led care creates fragmentation in maternity care in the Netherlands. This study aims to gain insight into the level of consensus among maternity care professionals about facilitators and barriers related to integration of midwife-led and obstetrician-led care. Integration could result in more personal continuity of care for wom...

INTRODUCTION Ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in the Swedish health care system have increased. Most indicators suggest that immigrants have significantly poorer health than native Swedes. The purpose of this study was to explore the views of midwives on the factors that contribute to health care inequality among immigrants. METHODS Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with...

BACKGROUND Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or cutting caries legal and bioethical debates and it is practiced in many developing countries. METHODS Random selection of 154 midwives was used for the study during June 2012 and through July 2012 aiming to assess knowledge and attitudes of the midwives towards FGM in Eastern Sudan. RESULTS A total of 157 midwives enrolled in this study. They ha...

OBJECTIVE antenatal counselling for congenital anomaly tests is conceptualised as having both Health Education (HE) and Decision-Making Support (DMS) functions. Building and maintaining a client-midwife relation (CMR) is seen as a necessary condition for enabling these two counselling functions. However, little is known about how these functions are fulfilled in daily practice. This study aims ...

BACKGROUND midwifery continuity of care has been shown to be beneficial to women through reducing interventions and other maternal and neonatal morbidity. In Australia, numerous government reports recognise the importance of midwifery models of care that provide continuity. Given the benefits, midwives, including new graduate midwives, should have the opportunity to work in these models of care...