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Purpose: Infants who remain in-utero after their due date are exposed to increasing risk of infection, late stillbirth and delivery complications. Much of the current literature on post-term outcomes is based on short term observations and the impacts may be substantially greater in the long term. The aim of this work is to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the cognitive or educational impacts of post term delivery.Methods: Systematic review was performed by the two authors using Medline database (1960-2017). A title search was performed to identify likely relevant literature. Exposure terms were clarified to identify papers where the exposure was related to delivery after the infants' due date. Primary outcome was cognitive score. A quality assessment and data extraction pro forma was completed by both reviewers for all studies deemed to satisfy the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Meta-analysis used adjusted results where available. Small-study bias was assessed visually using a funnel plot and then formally tested using Egger's regression asymmetry test.Results: Medline was searched on the 4 July 2018; and produced a list of 1318 publications. Of these, 43 abstracts were screened, and of these a total of 10 full-text papers were reviewed. A further three papers were identified during this review and contributed to a total of 13 papers. The publications dated from 1969 to 2017. Two studies presented a binary outcome for cognitive measures and combined estimates found that the risk of a low cognitive score was higher in post-term infants compared to term infants (odds ratio [OR] 1.06 [1.04-1.08]). Four papers presented the association with mean cognitive measures and post-term delivery, and all demonstrated a mean reduction in scores in the post-term group. A combined estimate showed strong evidence of a reduction in cognitive scores across the four studies (-1.90 [-3.50 to -0.31]). There was little evidence of heterogeneity in the studies which reported cognitive outcomes (other p-values >.2).Conclusion: This meta-analysis has found that post term birth (>41 + 6 weeks) is associated with small but significant negative effects on cognitive outcomes when compared with delivery at, or around term. The effect, while small, is compounded by a common exposure and appears consistent in the studies identified. Less evidence was found for a measurable impact on early developmental measures or educational outcomes. This may further help inform the debate on the timing of otherwise uncomplicated pregnancies and further trials in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In nursing and midwifery, the concept of environment is considered a meta-concept. Research findings suggest that the location is not the only important factor, as both place and space influence the practices of midwives. Moreover, research on the geography of health suggests a connection between place and health that could be extended to reproductive health. Therefore, to move beyond and expand traditional research expressions, it is beneficial to illuminate the concepts of place and space in relation to childbirth. Purpose: This study was undertaken to produce a synthesis of previous qualitative research of issues in childbirth in relation to the concepts of place and space. Method: In this Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS), four electronic databases; CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO and Sociological abstracts, were used for the literature search. In total 734 papers were screened, and 27 papers met the final inclusion criteria after assessment. Results: The synthesis reveals a need to create a space for childbirth underpinned by four aspects; a homely space, a spiritual space, a safe space, and a territorial space. Conclusion: Findings from this review will provide a basis for useful dialogue in midwifery education and in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus pandemic raises significant concerns about pervasive social inequities and disparate gender relations, particularly between mothers/fathers. Indeed, the pandemic engendered a general retreat into traditional parenting roles across myriad, everyday, institutional, spaces, including workplaces, homes, and welfare/healthcare services. These effects have been especially marked for couples expecting a child. Visitor-restriction policies, implemented to curb viral-spread within healthcare settings, effectively 'barred' many expectant fathers in the UK (and elsewhere) from attending antenatal appointments, and even the birth of their child; milestone moments widely regarded as significant socio-cultural 'rites-of-passage' in fathers' transition to parenthood. Many pregnant women had to face these moments alone, sparking campaigns including #ButNotMaternity. This paper critically examines how such institutional responses exhibit a complex 'welfare trade-off' effectively (re)positioning fathers as spectators, rather than participants, in pregnancy/parenthood and risk embodying a potential U-turn to recent decades' emphasis on involved, equitable fatherhood. Drawing upon the accounts of expectant mothers/fathers in the UK reported in the popular press since March 2020 and the #ButNotMaternity campaign, it employs thematic social-media analysis to explore the emotional impacts of visitor-restrictions and the gendered, emotional governance of parenting amidst the pandemic through the exclusion of particular (fathers') bodies within maternity care spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motherhood penalty for developed countries is well-established in the economic literature. Childbirth intensifies the traditional gender roles that affect paid and unpaid work and contributes to the persistence of the gender labour gap. However, little is known about this phenomenon for developing contexts. This paper investigates the motherhood effects on women's formal employment and wage trajectories in Uruguay. We document significant and robust motherhood penalties in the labour market, applying an event study method to almost 20 years of social security administrative data. One year after childbirth, formal monthly labour earnings decrease by 22 per cent. This drop fails to recover over time, and ten years after the arrival of children, women's earnings are 40 per cent below their level just before childbirth. This penalty is mainly driven by a drop in formal employment and, to a lesser extent, a wage decline for those remaining employed. Heterogeneous analysis shows that low-wage women face higher motherhood penalties than high-wage women. Interestingly, these negative effects on wages and formal employment have reduced over time, and recent mothers face lower motherhood penalties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing advocacy of shared decision-making (SDM) approaches to maternal healthcare and the significance of including patient preferences in choosing the childbirth method, quantitative research to help the patients to make informed decisions is still lacking. This paper proposes a multi-attribute decision framework to guide the patients toward the best childbirth method considering their preferences, risk attitudes, pregnancy complications, and uncertainties during the delivery process. Valuations of health condition, intrapartum pain, duration of the process, recovery time, and feeling of empowerment constitute the attribute set of our model. Four major pregnancy complications - malpresentation, anemia, eclampsia, and gestational diabetes have been considered to assess the patients' pregnancy complication state. A deidentified dataset from the maternal delivery unit of the Dhaka Medical College (DMC) Hospital in Bangladesh, which was screened and validated by doctors from three different hospitals, was utilized to present a case study. For mothers with no complications, vaginal delivery (VG) is preferred regardless of the risk attitude. For mothers with single difficulty, as risk attitude changes from risk-averse to risk-seeking, the optimal strategy shifts from cesarean to VG. Cesarean delivery is preferred regardless of the risk attitude for mothers with more than one complication. Sensitivity analyses reveal that valuations of health conditions and intrapartum pain are the most sensitive attributes. The decisions obtained from the model are found consistent with the decision taken at DMC 85.25% times. This paper presents new insights to foster SDM and improve the childbirth experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this editorial, I explore the contribution of the recent special issue ofHealth, Risk & Society(Volume 16, Issue 1), and three related papers published in the current volume (Volume 16, Issue 6), and identify themes and concepts which are consistent across these papers. The aims of the special issue were twofold; the call for papers invited articles on the topic of risk in relation to pregnancy and childbirth, and which sought to explore risk theorisation in this field. Looking at these papers as a body of work, I explore the breadth of this collective endeavour, and identify areas which have been researched at some depth, whilst drawing attention to other areas which manage to evade our theoretical gaze. I also reflect on the ways in which these papers have, independently and together, added to the field of risk theorisation, and propose some future directions which might usefully help move beyond the current limits of our enquiry. The combined body of work in these issues represents a considerable resource, and one which makes a clear contribution to contemporary understandings of risk, pregnancy and birth, however I argue that of late, the focus of enquiry has become narrowed, with much of our research providing new evidence from the perspective of relatively privileged women from high-income countries, who have good access to safe, high quality maternity care. The sum of this work is now such that it is possible to synthesise themes across studies and settings, which is valuable to our understanding, but the lack of research amongst women from developing nations, or amongst those with less privilege in high-income countries, means that our resource is incomplete, and fails to do justice to women’s broader experience of pregnancy and birth. Developments of risk theorisation are evident in the collected papers; authors have interrogated the positioning of individuals as subjects, and drawn new conclusions about historicised risk, and practices of resistance to risk discourse. I review these developments in this editorial, and also propose that the collection generates many new dimensions to our initial understanding of the ‘virtual object’ of risk in the context of pregnancy and birth. I conclude by outlining potential new directions and approaches to meet some of the identified gaps in our exploration and theorisation of risk in pregnancy and birth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Transition to non-employment is prevalent for women in the Egyptian labor market, particularly those working in the private sector. This paper analyzes women's labor market transitions, particularly to non-employment and to other labor market states in the time around marriage and childbirth. We test whether individual characteristics, work characteristics, or agency affect women's transitions. Specifically, the paper answers three main questions: First, what are the explanatory factors for the women's transition to non-employment? Second, what are the differences between the effect of previous job characteristics and women's agency on the employment decision? Third, what are the determinants of the transition to other labor market states (multiple employment decisions)? Drawing on panel and retrospective data from the 2012 and 2018 waves of Egypt's Labor Market Panel Survey, we estimate these relationships using a single risk model and a competing risk model. Results show that marriage and motherhood increase women's transition to non-employment. The timing of the transition happens at marriage and the year before marriage (anticipation effect). This impact is more considerable for women working in the private sector than the public sector. Women working in non-wage work transition to private wage work in the years before marriage. The results show that the sector of employment plays a crucial role in women's transition to non-employment. In addition, the availability of external help in the household is considered an important factor that can help retain women in the labor force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, Black women are disproportionately denied access to timely care and are made vulnerable to death by avoidable obstetric causes. However, they have not been at the center of recent initiatives to improve maternal health. This paper contends that the effectiveness of Brazilian maternal and infant health policy is limited by failures to robustly address racial health inequities. Multi-sited ethnographic research on the implementation of the Rede Cegonha program in Bahia, Brazil between 2012 and 2017 reveals how anti-Blackness structures iatrogenic harms for Black women as well as their kin in maternal healthcare. Building on the work of Black Brazilian feminists, the paper shows how Afro-Brazilian women experience anti-Black racism in obstetric care, which the paper argues can be better understood through Dána-Ain Davis' concept of obstetric racism. The paper suggests that such forms of violence reveal the necropolitical facets of reproductive governance and that the framing of obstetric violence broadens the scales and temporalities of iatrogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of a family member is often conceptualized as a disruption in one's life story. However, when a loss occurs prior to, or during, one's birth, the bereaved life stories are not interrupted by the loss, but rather begin with loss. The paper offers a new conceptualization of these losses as "congenital losses" and captures the core aspects of this phenomenon. A qualitative phenomenological analysis of 34 in-depth semi-structured interviews with offspring and siblings whose family members died before/during their birth revealed four main challenges presented by congenital loss: incoherency and fragmentation; storyownership; bond-establishment, and; identity challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective, low-cost clinical interventions to improve facility-based care during childbirth are critical to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in low-resource settings. While health interventions for low- and lower-middle-income countries are often developed and implemented top-down, needs and circumstances vary greatly across locations. Our pilot study in Zanzibar improved care through locally co-created intrapartum clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and associated training (the PartoMa intervention). This intervention was context-tailored with health-care providers in Zanzibar and now scaled up within five maternity units in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This PartoMa Scale-up Study thereby provides an opportunity to explore the co-creation process and modification of the intervention in another context and how scale-up might be successfully achieved. The overall protocol is presented in a separate paper. The aim of the present paper is to account for the Scale-up Study's programme theory and qualitative methodology. We introduce social practice theory and argue for its value within the programme theory and towards qualitative explorations of shifts in clinical practice. The theory recognizes that the practice we aim to strengthen – safe and respectful clinical childbirth care – is not practiced in a vacuum but embedded within a socio-material context and intertwined with other practices. Methodologically, the project draws on ethnographic and participatory methodologies to explore current childbirth care practices. In line with our programme theory, explorations will focus on meanings of childbirth care, material tools and competencies that are being drawn upon, birth attendants' motivations and relational contexts, as well as other everyday practices of childbirth care. Insights generated from this study will not only elucidate active ingredients that make the PartoMa intervention feasible (or not) but develop the knowledge foundation for scaling-up and replicability of future interventions based on the principles of co-creation and contextualisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers in Perinatal Palliative Care (PPC) play an essential role in caring for birthing people carrying a baby with a life-limiting condition and their families. Perinatal palliative care is consistent with social work values concerning fostering quality of life and promoting social justice and access to care. Social workers play a multidimensional role in providing a holistic approach to caring for the birthing person, baby, and family. Although social workers may be part of an interdisciplinary care team, their role is not defined solely by the goals of the greater team, nor has it been discussed in depth in the perinatal palliative care literature. The purpose of this paper is to describe the knowledge, values, and skills essential to the role of the social worker in a hospital-based perinatal palliative care team. A case study will be used to illustrate the relevant practices, and implications are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we apply the reproductive justice framework to discuss how gendered racism disadvantages pregnant and parenting young Black women aging out of foster care. Specifically, we highlight the reversal of Roe v Wade as reflective of the United States' long legacy of efforts to control Black women's reproduction. We then discuss the structural factors contributing to the reproductive injustices of young Black women aging out of care, including a lack of access to sexual and reproductive health education, barriers to educational attainment, and foster care-based relational and placement deficits. We conclude with research, practice, and policy enhancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult adoptees and adoption professionals encourage transracial adoptive parents to provide cultural socialization (CS)—learning about and facilitating a sense of connectedness to children's birth culture. Research showed that CS is related to positive developmental outcomes. However, recent studies suggested that there were varying degrees of cultural depth in CS (Quiroz, 2012; Zhang & Pinderhughes, 2019). This qualitative study examined how transracial adoptive parents addressed cultural depth in CS. Thirty transracial adoptive parents participated in semi-structured phone interviews. Five themes related to cultural depth were identified using phenomenological analysis. Findings revealed that parents' cognitions about culture (understanding of adoptees' birth culture, acknowledgment of limited cultural knowledge, and the belief that "culture is not everything"), and actions that facilitate cultural connections (providing role models, creating diverse context) all varied in depth. This paper discussed variations in CS depth and suggested that a deep cultural connection may provide a foundation for adoptees to pursue their identity development journeys as adolescents and young adults. Social workers can use the findings of this study to guide their self-examination of cultural understanding, as well as to help adoptive parents to provide deeper CS to their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically explores the pedagogy of Science World in creating disciplined, birthing patients within the sexuality education BodyWorks gallery on display in Vancouver, Canada. Using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, I explore the ways in which power/knowledge circulates to regulate and de-agentalise bodies in a science museum encounter. I consider the regimes of truth that emerge regarding the good/right/correct way to give birth and to be a woman: that is, as White, heteronormative, slender, conforming, always a mother, but and mostly a uterus. In exposing regimes of truth within the encountered curriculum of the science museum, the hope is that sexuality educators might (re)consider space for the unruly and awe-ful within pedagogies of childbirth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This final issue of 2019 marks the end of the first quarter century of the journal and the first year of quarterly issues, which has seen three essays, four editorials, ten book reviews and nineteen papers published. We have also expanded the editorial board with another two member since the last issue and welcome Prof Thana de Campos from Chile and Dr June Jones from Edgehill University in the UK as our latest new members. Ideas for further themed issues and responses to papers are always welcomed as The New Bioethics enters its second quarter century of publication. [Extracted from the article]

The tight link between childbearing and being married has substantially unraveled in recent decades. This paper documents the extent to which this unraveling has occurred in Australia. It examines current levels of ex-nuptial births and the steep increase in such births. The link between ex-nuptial births on the one hand and maternal age and ethnicity on the other are explored. Accompanying the rise in ex-nuptial births has been a rise in lone- parent families. The paper examines the extent to which this rise is due to parental separation and the extent to which it is due to unpartnered mothers having children. The paper also explores whether children born to cohabiting but unmarried parents experience a greater rate of parental separation than do those born to married parents. Data are also provided that suggest that the sharp rise in ex-nuptial births has taken place within a social context in which such births are increasingly accepted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the authors in this paper is to investigate the effects of negative experiences during delivery and postpartum period on the relationship between the mother. The quantitative part of this study was conducted with 289 mothers and the qualitative part with 40 mothers. It was found that experiencing upsetting problems during delivery (p = 0.006) and in the postpartum period (p = 0.002) had an effect on separation anxiety. Based on the examination of the feelings experienced during annoying or distressing situations in the postpartum period, it was determined that there was a significant correlation between guilt (p = 0.000), fear of not being a good mother (p = 0.035), and feeling weak (p = 0.001) and separation anxiety. Blues of birth is fear and anxiety that the baby will be harmed if the mother is separated from it, and it is attributed to negative experiences during delivery and the postpartum period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many women report sexual dysfunction in the postpartum period, controversial research has been reported the relationship between delivery mode and sexual function. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the sexual function after childbirth and identify the difference of sexual function based on the female sexual function index (FSFI) questionnaire in women with elective cesarean section, vaginal delivery with episiotomy and vaginal delivery without episiotomy. Studies were found by searching in Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and considering the references of the related papers from their start dates until September 2021. All observational studies in English that reported the mean and SD of score of sexual function and its domains based on the mode of delivery were included in this meta-analysis. Random effect model was used to combine the results of included studies on female sexual function and its subdomains. Finally, 17 articles with a total population of 3410 were included in the meta-analysis. Total mean (95 percent CI) of sexual function was 24.27 (22.82, 25.72) with substantial heterogeneity among studies (χ2 = 7487.63, P <.001; I2 = 99.45). In subgroup analyses, the mean score of sexual function was significantly differed in terms of time elapsed since delivery (P =.04) and studied country (P <.001). But, the mode of delivery has no significant effect on postpartum sexual function and subdomains. The result indicated that elective cesarean section, vaginal delivery with episiotomy, vaginal delivery without episiotomy are not associated with the female sexual function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The project 'Quality Decision-making by women and providers' (QUALI-DEC) combines four non-clinical interventions to promote informed decision-making surrounding mode of birth, improve women's birth experiences, and reduce caesarean sections among low-risk women. QUALI-DEC is currently being implemented in 32 healthcare facilities across Argentina, Burkina Faso, Thailand, and Viet Nam. In this paper, we detail implementation processes and the planned process evaluation, which aims to assess how and for whom QUALI-DEC worked, the mechanisms of change and their interactions with context and setting; adaptations to intervention and implementation strategies, feasibility of scaling-up, and cost-effectiveness of the intervention. We developed a project theory of change illustrating how QUALI-DEC might lead to impact. The theory of change, together with on the ground observations of implementation processes, guided the process evaluation strategy including what research questions and perspectives to prioritise. Main data sources will include: 1) regular monitoring visits in healthcare facilities, 2) quantitative process and output indicators, 3) a before and after cross-sectional survey among post-partum women, 4) qualitative interviews with all opinion leaders, and 5) qualitative interviews with postpartum women and health workers in two healthcare facilities per country, as part of a case study approach. We foresee that the QUALI-DEC process evaluation will generate valuable information that will improve interpretation of the effectiveness evaluation. At the policy level, we anticipate that important lessons and methodological insights will be drawn, with application to other settings and stakeholders looking to implement complex interventions aiming to improve maternal and newborn health and wellbeing. Trial registration: ISRCTN67214403. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childcare within Australia has undergone significant reform as a result of the implementation of the nationally mandated Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework [EYLF] (Department for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR]. 2009. Belonging, Being and Becoming. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations). The EYLF articulates contemporary perspectives of the child through its principles, practices and learning outcomes. Educators are required to promote these principles, practices and learning outcomes with children aged from birth to 5 years. This paper reports the findings from a research project that sought to investigate how educators applied their understanding of learning outcome two of the EYLF (children are connected with and contribute to their world). The focus of this research was educators working with children aged two to three years within childcare centres operating on school sites, in metropolitan Western Australian. The research design was qualitative and situated within the interpretivist paradigm. Observations were used as the method for gathering data and these were analysed through a process of coding. This paper presents the observational findings of educators' practices within learning outcome two. Composite vignettes from the voice of the child are included to present the observational findings. In centralising the voice of the child, contemporary perspectives are made explicit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pregnant women often turn to the internet as a primary source of pregnancy-related information. However, there is great concern about the accuracy of health-related information on the internet, making research on women's internet behaviours and decision-making critically important. Previous research has been conducted within a number of distinct but related fields, yet existing review papers have often failed to connect across the various disciplines. This review aims to synthesise the large and cross-disciplinary body of literature on women's health information-seeking internet behaviour regarding pregnancy and childbirth. A narrative literature review, which includes research from both health and social sciences, was conducted. Findings address the 'who, where, what, why, and how' of information-seeking behaviour on the internet, with suggestions for future research in each area further discussed. Additional research which addresses the remaining gaps in the literature can help providers be more aware of their patients' informational needs. Providers can be an important source of information, while also helping guide their patients on how to evaluate information. Enhanced patient portals and communication platforms can help to provide more timely and reliable information. Providing their patients with guides can be important for fostering enhanced health literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research from the medical and social science literature has found that spacing births closely together leads to adverse health and socioeconomic outcomes for the younger child. More recent evidence using inter-family comparisons is challenging the validity of those results. However, while inter-family comparisons allow for time-invariant unobservable heterogeneity across families, they cannot fully control for changes in families that occur over time and may affect both decisions about birth intervals as well as child outcomes. To our knowledge, this paper provides the first examination of the effects of birth spacing on later childhood cognitive outcomes that accounts for both time-invariant and time-varying heterogeneity in the same models. Instrumental variables estimations on data from Indonesia indicate that younger siblings perform significantly better on maths assessment exams when they are spaced farther apart from their immediately older sibling. This effect appears to be concentrated among the poorest and least educated households. The data thus suggest that close spacing may be detrimental to the socioeconomic outcomes of the younger sibling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to reveal the development of cultural code of single motherhood in postwar Russia through the analysis of fiction. The research turns on the assumption that cultural codes might be deciphered only through a process of semiosis. The cultural code of single motherhood has been forged in a contradictory environment. Though officially accepted by way of 1944 law, Soviet single mothers found themselves in an ambiguous context: urged by the state to give birth to children and under pressure from traditional family values. Using the result of content analysis of 12 short stories, novels and novellas written by female Soviet authors between 1959 and 1984 I reconstruct the cultural code of post-war Soviet single motherhood. The analysis identifies 11 meaningful facets around which the code was centred. Putting stories in a chronological order contributes to unravelling the evolving, functioning and principles of code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To discuss and develop a statement on the current state of the evidence and opinion in Fear of Childbirth (FoC) and Tokophobia (Tocophobia), and to provide recommendations. Background: A group met in 2019 to discuss the state of clinical and academic knowledge relating to FoC/Tokophobia. Five key areas were agreed as the focus of the meeting. Methods: 12 internationally acknowledged experts, in this or a closely related area (e.g. PTSD) met to discuss their understanding of the evidence for FoC/ Tokophobia and current practice. The consensus described in this paper constitutes the expression of the general opinion of the participants and does not necessarily imply unanimity. Keys points: Work focussed on tokophobia is recent and there remains a wide range of issues, which were addressed in the workshop including complexity in defining prevalence, a theoretical lack of understanding, which creates challenge for robust assessment and the identification of risk factors. An improved aetiological and developmental understanding of the tokophobia is required to underpin appropriate, effective and evidence-based interventions. Evaluation of pathways of care and relevant interventions, should be a focus of future research. Conclusion: Significant gaps remain within the FoC/tokophobia knowledge base. Further research is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an illustrative analysis of amateur You Tube videos portraying a specific style of natural births called hypnobirths, which make use of relaxation and hypnosis techniques during labour and birthing, and offer an alternative to birthing in interventionist, obstetrics-led settings. Moving forward from the visible advantages of relaxation and hypnosis related birthing support, within the context of the natural birthing movement, to restore women’s agency in birthing, resisting and rejecting hyper medicalized technocratic cultures of births, this paper suggests that these home-made, amateur hypnobirthing videos need to be viewed against the feminist critique of the intensive motherhood discourse, which sees the videos producing the birthing mother as an individualized, self-regulating and highly invested, subject, transcending pain in a mythic journey of blissful birthing. The labours of these maternal subjects evident in the carefully curated visuals of the ultimate joyful, painless birth, complete with its own distinct vocabulary that scripts a specific narrative of birth, contribute to mediated frameworks of reference which establish hierarchies of good and bad births, which might ultimately be going against the core feminist critique of technocratic birthing cultures, the very framework they seek to resist. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A meta-analysis (MA) of natural vs. cesarean births in HBV infected mothers was performed to assess which delivery methods could minimize the mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of Hepatitis B virus (HBV). Electrical databases PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched for the English papers about the HBV MTCT up to 19 August 2019. STATA 11.0 software was used for all analysis. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to present the effect size for MTCT at birth and MTCT more than 6 months. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the chi-squared Q and I2 test to determine the use of random effects model or fixed effects model. A total of 19 articles involving 11,144 HBV-positive pregnant women (5251 underwent natural delivery and 5893 received a cesarean section) were included in the study. The pooled OR for MTCT at birth was 0.42, 95% CI: 0.23–0.76 based on random effect model (I2 = 69.9%, p =.019). Meanwhile, in fixed effect model (I2 = 0.0%, p =.470), the pooled OR for MTCT more than 6 months was 0.62, 95% CI: 0.48–0.81. The results indicated that HBV infection in cesarean births significantly lower than that of vaginal delivery. Subgroup analysis of MTCT more than 6 months was clearly, and the results indicated that cesarean section significantly reduced the risk of MTCT (OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.48–0.81, p <.001). Cesarean section can reduce the risk of HBV MTCT and should be employed as a preventive measure. Due to the limitations of this study, further multi-center, large-sample randomized controlled trials must be performed to confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to two-thirds of South African adolescent mothers drop out of school, which increases their HIV risk and other poor health outcomes. Despite variability in adolescent mothers' schooling trajectories, we have a limited understanding of their re-enrollment in school following the life-changing circumstance of childbirth. In this paper, we draw on qualitative interviews (n = 16) and quantitative surveys (n = 109) with adolescent mothers (aged 14–19) who had recently given birth to describe how access to individual and social resources contributes to their resilience following childbirth and thus affects their ability to re-enroll in school. Nearly all the adolescent mothers in our study expressed a desire to return to school, and most of their families also emotionally supported adolescent mothers in these goals. Despite mothers' high hopes and familial emotional support, only half of the adolescent mothers re-enrolled in the first six months following childbirth. Adolescent mothers' re-entry trajectories were strongly affected by institutional support and by family members' provision of instrumental support. To a lesser extent, support from partners and peers also played a role in re-enrollment. Multilevel interventions to maximise resilience following the onset of early motherhood may facilitate return to school and positively influence adolescent mothers' health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In obstetrics and gynecology, knowledge about how women's features are associated with childbirth is important. This leads to establishing guidelines and can help managers to describe the dynamics of pregnant women's hospital stays. Then, time is a variable of great importance and can be described by survival models. An issue that should be considered in the modeling is the inclusion of women for whom the duration of labor cannot be observed due to fetal death, generating a proportion of times equal to zero. Additionally, another proportion of women's time may be censored due to some intervention. The aim of this paper was to present the Log-Normal zero-inflated cure regression model and to evaluate likelihood-based parameter estimation by a simulation study. In general, the inference procedures showed a better performance for larger samples and low proportions of zero inflation and cure. To exemplify how this model can be an important tool for investigating the course of the childbirth process, we considered the Better Outcomes in Labor Difficulty project dataset and showed that parity and educational level are associated with the main outcomes. We acknowledge the World Health Organization for granting us permission to use the dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 3-Delays Model has helped in the identification of access barriers to obstetric care in low and middle-income countries by highlighting the responsibilities at household, community and health system levels. Critiques of the Model include its one-dimensionality and its limited utility in triggering preventative interventions. Such limitations have prompted a review of the evidence to establish the usefulness of the Model in optimising timely access to intrapartum care. To determine the current utility of the 3-Delays Model and its potential for supporting a solution-based approach to accessing intrapartum care. We conducted a qualitative evidence synthesis across several databases and included qualitative findings from stand-alone studies, mixed-methods research and literature reviews using the Model to present their findings. Papers published between 1994 and 2019 were included with no language restrictions. Twenty-seven studies were quality appraised. Qualitative accounts were analysed using the ‘best-fit framework approach’. This synthesis included twenty-five studies conducted in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Five studies adhered to the original 3-Delays Model’s structure by identifying the same factors responsible for the delays. The remaining studies proposed modifications to the Model including alterations of the delay’s definition, adding of new factors explaining the delays, and inclusion of a fourth delay. Only two studies reported women’s individual contributions to the delays. All studies applied the Model retrospectively, thus adopting a problem-identification approach. This synthesis unveils the need for an individual perspective, for prospective identification of potential issues. This has resulted in the development of a new framework, the Women’s Health Empowerment Model, incorporating the 3 delays. As a basis for discussion at every pregnancy, this framework promotes a solution-based approach to childbirth, which could prevent delays and support women’s empowerment during pregnancy and childbirth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in psychological variables in couples after successful in-vitro fertilization (IVF) have rarely been investigated. This paper describes follow-up assessments of a previously published study investigating changes in life satisfaction, stress and worry related to childbirth in couples undergoing IVF and those with natural pregnancy. Questionnaire data were obtained in 75 IVF couples and 70 couples with natural pregnancy before pregnancy, and at 6 and 12 months postpartum; follow-up data were recorded 18 and 24 months postpartum. IVF couples had less favourable baseline scores for all variables than those with natural pregnancy. Their life satisfaction increased, stress and worry decreased, during the first year postpartum. Couples with natural pregnancy reported transient worsening in all variables during this period. During follow-up, all variables remained largely stable in both groups; while life satisfaction and stress no longer differed between groups, worry was lower in IVF couples at month 24. Gender differences were small in both groups. In IVF couples, negative impacts of infertility may fully abate after childbirth; in naturally conceiving couples, initial negative changes in wellbeing are reversed and stabilized during the child´s first 2 years. Both groups may benefit from psychological support at different times during pregnancy and parenthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze two mainstream children's films, Storks (2016), and The Boss Baby (2017), both of which answer the proverbial question, "Where do babies come from?" with "They come from corporate factories above the clouds." We argue that these films bypass the gendered labor of reproduction, forwarding instead a politics of neoliberal multiculturalism in which the entrepreneurial spirit of masculinized reproductive industries appears to facilitate a post-racial utopia. These films tacitly reinstate traditional familial and heteronormative whiteness as the path toward the intertwined goals of capital accumulation and happiness. As such, they support the socialization of children into a policy landscape that increasingly devalues the physical, emotional, and economic labor of gestation, birth, and parenting, which in turn contributes to the conditions for disinvestment in the structures and policies that would ensure reproductive rights, health, and justice for marginalized groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the population aging, on May 31, 2021, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed the policy that a couple can have three children and rolled out more supportive measures to further optimize fertility policies, which is another major initiative following the universal two-child policy introduced in November 2015. Currently, a series of population policy innovations have aroused great attractions among the public and triggered a hot debating on the Internet. People’s fertility attitude tendency under different related policies can reflect their current fertility intentions. Based on the fact, this paper firstly classifies the sentiment of online comment data on the three-child policy and analyzes people’s sentiment tendency toward the three-child policy from the spatio-temporal perspectives. Secondly, people’s points of view on the three-child policy are summarized by using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) thematic clustering. The reasons for the change in people’s fertility attitude tendency under different fertility policies are analyzed by comparing the change in people’s fertility attitude tendency with the change in people’s attentions. Finally, a multiple regression equation is constructed to analyze the key factors influencing people’s intention to have three children by using public opinion data and its extension data. The findings demonstrate: (1) people’s fertility attitudes toward the three-child policy are negative and similar among different regions; (2) compared to the two-child policy, the percentage of negative and neutral attitudes toward the three-child policy increases, while the percentage of positive attitudes decreases; (3) the increase in fertility costs, the deterioration of women’s employment environment, and the change in the concept of marriage and childbirth become important reasons for the negative change in people’s fertility attitudes toward different policies. Therefore, the government should take measures to reduce the burden of childbirth and guide the correct concept of marriage and childbirth to improve people’s fertility intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of serious coronavirus epidemic, it is critical that pregnant women not be ignored potentially life-saving interventions. So, this study was designed to improve the quality of care by health providers through what they need to know about coronavirus during pregnancy and childbirth. We conducted a systematic review of electronic databases was performed for published in English, before 25 March 2020. Finally, 29 papers which had covered the topic more appropriately were included in the study. The results of the systematic review of the existing literature are presented in the following nine sections: Symptoms of the COVID-19 in pregnancy, Pregnancy management, Delivery Management, Mode of delivery, Recommendations for health care provider in delivery, Neonatal outcomes, Neonatal care, Vertical Transmission, Breastfeeding. In conclusion, improving quality of care in maternal health, as well as educating, training, and supporting healthcare providers in infection management to be prioritized. Sharing data can help to countries that to prevent maternal and neonatal morbidity associated with the COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dynamic model at three levels to understand changing mobility trends at the population level. A multi-level framework is proposed that enables existing research and analysis to be considered in a more holistic sense. This framework assists in identifying predictions and transition pathways for different birth cohorts, particularly as they reach older age. This has the aim of bringing about a greater understanding of the socio-demographic influence on mobility trends, with a focus on the cultural transitions that affect birth cohorts differently in terms of their travel behaviour. The framework presented here captures the multi-level forces and structural effects that impact mobility. The paper examines how these forces and effects interact at different levels to influence the changing mobility of birth cohorts at different points in time. Examining the simultaneous operation of these levels is of conceptual importance to assist in the interpretation of mobility trends, as well as understanding future mobility implications, of future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reducing the maternal mortality rate (MMR) is an important part of Mexico's commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, and the country has made great strides towards achieving this goal. However, researchers have questioned to what extent the focus on improved MMR and other indices of maternal health has contributed to an emphasis on improved statistics rather than quality care, and the effect this has had on the quality of reporting. While public health officials and hospital administrators alike agree that improved obstetric reporting is necessary, there is little discussion regarding the accuracy of the data that are submitted and the institutional pressures that may contribute to the production of inaccurate data. Using ethnographic research collected in Tulum, Quintana Roo, this paper explores how biomedical childbirth functions as a source of legitimization for the state while simultaneously providing the means for the presentation of an ideal subjecthood, one that situates birthing women and healthcare personnel as properly attenuated to the norms and needs of the modern Mexican state. By highlighting the point of disjuncture between women's experiences and the formal ‘reality’ created through hospital texts, this paper explores the place of biomedical birth as a producer of and legitimization for Mexican public health policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides a quantitative approach to investigate the determinants of Chinese maternity tourism (birth tourism) to Hong Kong with an Autoregressive Distribution Lag (ARDL) cointegration methodology with bounds testing of Pesaran, Shin, and Smith (2001) over the period from 1991 to 2011. Specifically, this paper examines the joint effects of the right of abode of Chinese babies born in Hong Kong and the launch of Individual Visit Scheme for Mainland Chinese tourists on maternity tourism to Hong Kong. Empirical results show that persistent growth in income and appreciation of the Chinese yuan lead to a higher demand for maternity tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Midwifery is an ancient profession that continues to be practiced almost exclusively by women. This paper explores the role that millennia of gender exclusivity has had in shaping the knowledge that informs the profession. Prior to the Renaissance this knowledge was exclusively female, largely oral, tacit and intuitive whilst recognising childbearing as an important transformative period in a woman's lifecycle. Male scientific enquiry in the seventeenth century into human anatomy extended to women's bodies and childbirth and disrupted the female ways of knowing. Their positivist ontology focussing on the mechanics of childbirth created an opportunity for intervening in a normal process and receiving payment for it. The perceived structural superiority of a male obstetric ontology of childbirth has posed an existential threat to the midwifery profession. This paper concludes by discussing how 20th century professional regulation of midwifery has encouraged midwives to use patriarchal structures and frameworks of knowledge to co-exist within the hegemonic biomedical model advocated by the majority of their obstetric colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Episiotomy is an enlargement of the vaginal orifice made by a surgical incision of the perineum. This review aimed to provide a socio-historical retrospective on the practice or episiotomy. Using the criteria from the PRISMA guidelines, the authors conducted a literature review, browsing twenty databases and several papers available in the gray literature. Sixty-four articles, seven reports, and fifteen books were selected. Through this study, four eras with different approaches to episiotomy practice could be identified: 1792–1920, 1920–1980, 1980–1996, and 1996–2018. This review shows that institutionalization and medicalization of birth lead to a systematic practice of episiotomy in many westernized countries until 1996. Lay questioning and evidence-based medicine may have reversed this trend into a restrictive practice. After making an inventory of the factors associated with the evolution of change in the rate of episiotomies, the review finally revealed that evolution of the practice of episiotomy has also been influenced by ideological, political, and social factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a variant of a discrete time Galton–Watson Branching Process in which an individual is allowed to survive for more than one (but finite) number of generations and may also give birth to offsprings more than once. We model the process using multitype branching process and derive conditions on the mean matrix that determines the long-run behavior of the process. Next, we analyze the distribution of the number of forefathers in a given generation. Here, number of forefathers of an individual is defined as all the individuals since zeroth generation who have contributed to the birth of the individual under consideration. We derive an exact expression for expected number of individuals in a given generation having a specified number of forefathers. Using this exact expression, we provide a detailed analysis for a simple illustrative case. Some interesting insights and possible applications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the study conducted by economist Julia Erickson regarding the non-usage of contraception among few population groups and availability of accurate data on marriage and fertility for the same. Ericksen and colleagues studied the fertility patterns and trends among the old order Amish. Some of the concepts of the study have been criticized. Most demographers hold the concept that a woman cannot give birth to a live child within the first eight months of her marriage in the absence of pre-nuptial conceptions and hence suggested the calculation of conception rates rather than birth rates. As against the concept that fertility decreases with the duration of marriage, the author suggests that some kind of family limitation is practiced which reduces fertility. Also the hypothesis that natural fertility decreases with age is not always true. In some populations fertility declines at a faster rate. Practice of family limitations may be held responsible for this. It is almost impossible to show the beginnings of family limitation from a simple comparison of figures between different populations.

In this paper, we explore how women who are unable to conform to age-specific conventions of marriage and childbearing construct their adult identities in socio-cultural contexts that valorize fertility and mandate compulsory marriage and motherhood. Through a detailed ethnography of women's experiences with menstrual anomalies and reproductive aging, this study examines Odia women's negotiations with their seemingly "incomplete bodies" and "disrupted identities" in the backdrop of experiencing infertility or anticipating it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Boko Haram insurgency is one of the most devastating violent crises that Nigeria has encountered in recent years. This paper compares the relative effect of the Boko Haram insurgency, as compared to other conflict events, on vaccination uptake among Nigerian children. To evaluate the effect of conflict events on vaccination, the children's birth months and the months of armed conflict were matched. The data on vaccination uptake was from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2018, while the information on conflict events was from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) Georeferenced Event Dataset (UCDP GED). The sub-group analysis was conducted, Boko-Haram affected sample vs. total sample, to evaluate the differential effect of armed conflict events on vaccination. The Boko Haram insurgency had a significant and negative effect on vaccination uptake in the conflict-affected states; Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe. On the other hand, other forms of conflicts that took place in Nigeria had significantly weaker effects on vaccination uptake. The negative effect of Boko Haram-related conflict events was particularly strong on Penta3/DPT3 uptake, while its effect on BCG was weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exhaustive analysis of the very last words drafted by one of the most powerful noblewomen of the fifteenth century, Duchess Aldonza de Mendoza (d. 1435), reveals that her project to transform the Hieronymite monastery of Lupiana into a pantheon might have been connected to the birth of a child outside her marriage, more precisely, to a son who had remained hidden until the moment of Aldonza's death. The aim of this study is to offer a new reading of the Duchess's mausoleum, a pantheon planned to showcase her lineage by focusing exclusively on the female line. Further, this paper rediscovers two panels of the lost main altarpiece of the monastery of Lupiana commissioned by Aldonza de Mendoza and proposes an allegorical portrait of the Duchess represented as the wife of Pontius Pilate. Aldonza's project reveals itself as crucial for understanding the self-fashioning mechanisms employed by late medieval women, as well as the ways in which visual culture was used in the shaping of female memorial programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I wish to talk about the process of becoming a mother, with particular attention to the role of the mother's bodily experience, during pregnancy and childbirth, in developing maternal competencies. Studies on neurophysiological mother–infant interaction allow us to focus on a series of specific bodily based processes that support their relationship in order to guarantee the establishment of a secure attachment. The experience of pregnancy and childbirth, through the body, reactivates the somatic memories of the woman, with the possibility of a re-enactment of traumatic experiences on the one hand, but also with the possibility of a transformation and an integration of these experiences through physiological, biological, psychological processes characteristic of motherhood. Neurophysiological processes related to bodily pleasure can make the difference. The literature at hand describes a post-traumatic stress disorder in women due to the conditions of giving birth, with particular attention to women with a history of sexual abuse during childhood. We should ask ourselves exactly how psychoanalysis considers this new emergent issue and how it should reconsider the role of the mother's body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:This paper aimed to report the current status of research in the field of post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth (PTSD FC), and to update the findings of an earlier 2008 paper.Background:A group of international researchers, clinicians and service users met in 2006 to establish the state of clinical and academic knowledge relating to PTSD FC. A paper identified four key areas of research knowledge at that time.Methods:Fourteen clinicians and researchers met in Oxford, UK to update the previously published paper relating to PTSD FC. The first part of the meeting focused on updating the four key areas identified previously, and the second part on discussing new and emerging areas of research within the field.Results:A number of advances have been made in research within the area of PTSD FC. Prevalence is well established within mothers, several intervention studies have been published, and there is growing interest in new areas: staff and pathways; prevention and early intervention; impact on families and children; special populations; and post-traumatic growth.Conclusion:Despite progress, significant gaps remain within the PTSD FC knowledge base. Further research continues to be needed across all areas identified in 2006, and five areas were identified which can be seen as ‘new and emerging’. All of these new areas require further extensive research. Relatively little is still known about PTSD FC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective:To review the efficacy of debriefing interventions for reducing posttraumatic stress (PTS) and/ or depressive symptoms in postnatal women.Background:Techniques referred to as debriefing have been adapted for use within maternity care settings to prevent the development of PTS symptoms or depression. There is a requirement to disaggregate methods and approaches used by existing studies, rather than review the research as a whole, to identify elements that may contribute to an efficacious intervention and to clarify what is currently a confused position.Methods:Papers assessing the utility of providing a brief psychological intervention involving discussion of a birth with the mother and a professional, to reduce symptoms of PTS or depression, were reviewed. Discussions could be structured or unstructured, and involve any aspect of discussing the birth, responses and coping strategies.Results:Nine papers (eight studies) were reviewed. While the majority of studies reported findings indicating that debriefing was ineffective for reducing PTS or depressive symptoms, there was evidence indicating that targeted interventions (for women who experienced a traumatic birth) were efficacious.Conclusion:There may be potential utility in providing a debriefing intervention for women who perceive their childbirth experience to have been traumatic. A diversity of approaches termed ‘debriefing’ highlight a requirement to consider alternative terminology; the term ‘childbirth review’ is suggested as a useful alternative. Further research evaluating the efficacy of debriefing using a targeted approach for trauma perception is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper explores the historical and archaeological evidence for maternal and infant death in medieval Ireland. An overview of a range of historical sources including law tracts, medical documents, and folklore are investigated for insights concerning the treatment of pregnant women, abortion, post-mortem caesarean, and the nature of herbs that were administered to assist with female reproductive matters. This provides the context for a review of 15 earlier and later medieval burial grounds in Ireland that produced 30 burials in which an adult female was associated with one or more foetal or perinatal infants. The individuals are considered to have potentially died as a result of obstetric complications. The overall frequency and age-at-death profiles of the women and babies are investigated. This is followed by an attempt to interpret the circumstances of each case to determine whether the death had occurred during pregnancy, childbirth or shortly after birthing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dr. Mallouh's paper beautifully depicts the tumultuous process of transition into motherhood with Dr. Mallouh's sensitive interventions. The "felt sense", as Peter Levine ([2]) describes, is a crucial task for the therapist to attune to, explore, and track in both the patient and the therapist herself, in any trauma treatment. IPP facilitates both the mother and the therapist to retrieve such inner resources and core selves, deeply embedded in long forgotten non-verbal, sensorimotor memories (Trevarthen & Delafield-Butt, [4]). [Extracted from the article]

The United States continues to favor heavily medicalized childbirth, an approach that strips agency from birthing women and contains higher risks of complications and maternal death, especially for women of color. Mainstream popular culture has also misrepresented heavily medicalized birth as safer than deliveries with fewer interventions. The rise of post-apocalyptic narratives has introduced a new lens on mediated birthing experiences. In dystopic realities, women deliver without the existence of functioning hospitals or practicing physicians. This paper uses a narrative analysis of pregnancy, labor, and birth on The Walking Dead (2010-) A Quiet Place (2018), and Bird Box (2018). Findings suggest that these texts reinforce a narrow image of pregnant women and present a distorted picture of the birthing process. Moreover, even in a dystopia, these constructions reinforce the medical model of childbirth. Overall, such narrativesKatie.Foss@mtsu.edu [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]