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Background and Objectives Concern about mistreatment and abuse during childbirth care is growing, and evidence suggests that many women worldwide experience mistreatment during childbirth. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of abused women during labor, types of abuse, rate of satisfaction with birth care among abused women, and associated sociodemographic and obstetric factors with mistreatment and abuse in the delivery room. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with data from 1196 women who experienced a vaginal delivery at least once within the past year in a public health setting in Erbil city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The author developed a questionnaire after a comprehensive review of the literature. Data were collected through direct interviews with the sample. Frequency, percentage, and chi-square tests were used for data analysis. Results About half of the study sample (49.9%) mentioned that they experienced mistreatment and/or abuse during labor and delivery. The most experienced type of mistreatment and abuse were as follows: lack of privacy (84.6%), patient-blaming (58.5), purposeful neglect (51.6%), abandonment of care, and detention in facilities (43.9%), Non-consented care (42.9%). The rate of physical and verbal abuse was 24.3% and 29.8%, respectively. There was a highly significant association between parity and general satisfaction with birth care with experiencing abuse (P = 0.006, P [less than or equal to] 0.001). Conclusions Mistreatment and abuse of women during childbirth are present among Kurdish women, leading to generally non-satisfaction with birth care, and exploring the reasons behind why health care providers mistreatment and abuse women during childbirth is critical., Author(s): Hamdia Mirkhan Ahmed [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.412012.4, 0000 0004 0417 5553, College of Health Sciences & Center for Research and Education in Women's Health, Hawler Medical University, , [...]

Introduction Maternal depression, which includes depression in the prenatal and postpartum periods, is estimated to affect between 10 and 20% of women globally but the rate is higher in the Middle East. Research focused on maternal depression in Iraq is limited to one study focused on postpartum depression. This paper identifies the prevalence and factors associated with antenatal depression among pregnant Iraqi women. Methods Women seeking maternal health services at primary health centers were invited to participate. Data were collected by trained midwifery students in Erbil, Iraq. Responses to the PHQ-2 PRIME-MD depression questions were used to identify depressive symptoms. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were used to analyze findings. Results Of the 179 participants, 86 (48%) reported depressive symptoms. In bivariate analysis, antenatal depression was associated with gestational age (p = 0.03), first prenatal visit in the second trimester (p = 0.003), loss of appetite (p = 0.003), not having help at home (p = 0.03), and use of prenatal vitamins (p = 0.002). Gravida approached significance (p = 0.07). In adjusted analysis, women reporting loss of appetite were more likely to report depressive symptoms (OR = 3.09, 95% CI: 1.47-6.51). Discussion Consistent with other research from the region, nearly half the women reported depressive symptoms. Because lack of appetite is associated with depressive symptoms, women reporting loss of appetite should be prioritized for depression screening in time-constrained settings., Author(s): Kathryn Mishkin [sup.1] , Shaymaa Samir Maqsood [sup.2] , Hamdia Mirkhan Ahmed [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.265850.c, 0000 0001 2151 7947, Department of Health Policy, Management, Behavior, University at [...]

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an educational breastfeeding intervention on initiation, continuation, and exclusivity of breastfeeding. In this experimental study 130 pregnant women who attended a primary health care center in Erbil city/Iraqi Kurdistan, between March 2018 and July 2018 were enrolled. They randomly allocated to either an experimental (n=65) or control (n=65) group. The participants assigned to the experimental group received two antenatal breastfeeding educational sessions. Outcome measurements (initiation, exclusivity, and continuation of breastfeeding) were assessed by a researcher, who was blind to groups' allocation. The percentage of subjects in the experimental group who began breastfeeding within one hour after delivery was significantly higher in the experimental group (75.0% vs. 39.4%, in the control groups, P=.004). Two months after delivery, proportion of women who practiced exclusive breastfeeding were (67.7% in experimental group compared to 40.0% in the control groups, P=.082), and for continuity of breastfeeding the majority of the subjects in the control (86.7%) and the experimental group (93.5%) were still breastfeeders (P=.425). An educational nursing intervention during the third trimester of pregnancy is an effective technique for increasing breastfeeding initiation, while it is less effective for breastfeeding exclusivity and continuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]