Postpartum care is an essential part of the experience of childbirth and parenthood. This study explores what women want from postnatal care. Three focus groups, using a semi-structured format, were conducted. A total of 12 mothers, up to six weeks postpartum, participated in the study, which was conducted in two clinics in the Western Cape Metropole. Data was transcribed from taped sessions an...

BACKGROUND Antenatal depression (AD) is a major public health issue but evidence regarding its prevalence and associated factors in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is limited. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence and identify risk factors for AD among Brazilian pregnant women. METHODS All women living in the urban area of the city of Pelotas, Southern Brazil, with confi...

OBJECTIVE To assess the feasibility, acceptability and fidelity of a feeding team intervention with an embedded randomised controlled trial of team-initiated (proactive) and woman-initiated (reactive) telephone support after hospital discharge. DESIGN Participatory approach to the design and implementation of a pilot trial embedded within a before-and-after study, with mixed-method process ev...

OBJECTIVE This study aims to evaluate the effect of maternal health insurance status on the utilisation of antenatal, skilled delivery and postnatal care. DESIGN A population-based cross-sectional study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS We utilised the 2008 Demographic and Health Survey data of Ghana, which included 2987 women who provided information on maternal health insurance status. PRIMARY ...

BACKGROUND Following childbirth, women need to stay sufficiently long in health facilities to receive adequate care. Little is known about length of stay following childbirth in low- and middle-income countries or its determinants. METHODS AND FINDINGS We described length of stay after facility delivery in 92 countries. We then created a conceptual framework of the main drivers of length of s...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of the timing of first postnatal home visit by community health workers on neonatal mortality. DESIGN Analysis of prospectively collected data using time varying discrete hazard models to estimate hazard ratios for neonatal mortality according to day of first postnatal home visit. DATA SOURCE Data from a community based trial of neonatal care interventions con...

OBJECTIVE there is growing evidence that many parents with intellectual disabilities can parent successfully when given adequate support. This paper aims to explore the postnatal care experiences of mothers with an intellectual disability. DESIGN a qualitative design was used and data were collected using a semi-structured interview format and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological An...