BACKGROUND Maternity health care available in Canada is based on the needs of women born in Canada and often lacks the flexibility to meet the needs of immigrant women. The purpose of this study was to explore immigrant Chinese women's experiences in accessing maternity care, the utilization of maternity health services, and the obstacles they perceived in Canada. METHODS This descriptive phe...

INTRODUCTION Australia is a land of cultural diversity. Cultural differences in maternity care may result in conflict between migrants and healthcare providers, especially when migrants have minimal English language knowledge. The aim of the study was to investigate Asian migrant women's child-birth experiences in a rural Australian context. METHOD The study consisted of semi-structured inter...

OBJECTIVE To analyse the culture of a Kabul maternity hospital to understand the perspectives of healthcare providers on their roles, experiences, values and motivations and the impact of these determinants on the care of perinatal women and their babies. DESIGN Qualitative ethnographic study. SETTING A maternity hospital, Afghanistan. POPULATION Doctors, midwives and care assistants. M...

BACKGROUND Like all health care consumers, pregnant women have the right to make autonomous decisions about their medical care. However, this right has created confusion for a number of maternity care stakeholders, particularly in situations when a woman's decision may lead to increased risk of harm to the fetus. Little is known about care providers' perceptions of this situation, or of their l...

BACKGROUND Promoting respect and dignity is a key component of providing quality care during facility-based childbirth and is becoming a critical indicator of maternal health care. Providing quality care requires essential skills and attitudes from healthcare providers, as their role is central to optimizing interventions in maternity settings. METHODS In 13 facilities in Kenya we conducted a...

abstract background: despite the scientific and medical advances for management of complicated health issues, the current maternity care setting has increased risks for healthy women and their babies. the aim of this study was to conduct an overview of published systematic reviews on the interventions used most commonly for management of normal labor and delivery in the first stage of labor. ma...

BACKGROUND Muslim women are one sub-population in Ghana among whom the rate of skilled maternal health services accessibility and utilisation is very low. However, there are no studies in Ghana that explore the maternity needs and care experiences of Muslim women, and why they do not utilise maternal healthcare services at health facilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the maternity...

This paper explores the consequences of the expiration of charity care requirements imposed on private hospitals by the Hill-Burton Act. We examine delivery care and the health of newborns using the universe of Florida births from 1989 to 2003 combined with hospital data from the American Hospital Association. We find that charity care requirements were binding on hospitals, but that private ho...

Qualitative research participants who self-identified as having a history of childhood sexual abuse and abuse-related posttraumatic stress during the childbearing year were interviewed for the purpose of determining what these women perceive as optimal maternity care. Using a process of narrative analysis, desired care practices were identified. With the exception of one woman, all of the study...

BACKGROUND Reducing stillbirth and early neonatal death is a national priority in the UK. Current evidence indicates this is potentially achievable through application of four key interventions within routine maternity care delivered as the National Health Service (NHS) England's Saving Babies' Lives care bundle. However, there is significant variation in the degree of implementation of the car...