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This paper engaged in theory-building from social movement and knowledge management (KM) theories and applied the case study method to explore the role of knowledge complexity in administration–society collaborations on knowledge. Complex knowledge is a kind of knowledge that consists of many interdependent elements, some of which are tacit. Complex knowledge creates challenges when external social groups attempt to transfer their knowledge to public organizations. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the following question: how do social groups acting as knowledge agents transfer their knowledge if it is complex?

A single-case study methodology informs the theory-building in this paper. The paper examined a case of collaboration between the natural childbirthing social movement and state maternity hospitals in Russia and Ukraine. The case was constructed from interviews, primary sources and secondary sources.

Social movement and KM theories were used in a case analysis to formulate theoretical propositions about the complexity of social movement knowledge, why and how movements transfer their knowledge through collaborations with the state, and how administrators assess movement knowledge and its transfer. The case suggests that administrators’ lack of capacity to recognize and deal with complex knowledge results in the underutilization of social groups’ knowledge. In particular, administrators treat complex knowledge as simple, and they misunderstand and underestimate its effects on collaboration.

To the best of this author’s knowledge, this paper is the first attempt in public administration to engage in theory-building from social movement and KM theories.

The purpose of this paper is to study the characteristics of the participants and the success of the recruitment methods and increase in knowledge of participants in reproductive health peer education. Dutch perinatal mortality rates are relatively high compared to other European countries. Non-Western ethnic minorities show particularly adverse outcomes. They seem to have low health literacy and less access to health care.

These groups were specifically targeted, and reproductive health education covering the full spectrum of obstetric care was developed, led by specifically trained female peer educators coming from the targeted communities.

“Active” recruitment methods were the most successful methods; 1,896 women and 275 men were recruited and participated in the intervention. Sixty-five per cent of the total female participants had a first-generation immigrant background. Significant knowledge improvements were found on all five measurements of reproductive behaviour and antenatal and postnatal health care system knowledge (24 per cent average knowledge increase in already knowledgeable participant group and 46 per cent in the not knowledgeable group). Active interpersonal recruitment methods were most successful in reaching the target groups. Peer education resulted in knowledge increase in these groups.

Invest in training of educators for peer education reproductive health. Organize recruitment by verbal advertising by community organizations and social networks of peer educators.

To the authors’ knowledge, no studies have been conducted combining investigation of the results of specific recruitment methods, the characteristics of reached participants in a multi-ethnic population and their increase in knowledge about reproductive health and care.

This chapter examines symphysiotomy in twentieth-century Ireland as one example of a systematized obstetric violence that has characterized Ireland’s modern history. Expanding scholarly interpretations of state- and Church-inflicted abuse of women in the twentieth century, this analysis establishes the medical profession as a central actor alongside the twentieth-century state-Church coalition that regulated women’s reproductive lives and engaged in systematic repression. This chapter recognizes that Ireland’s history of reproductive abuse and coercion did not just involve contraception or abortion but also labor and birth experiences. In addition, it offers a more complete and complex interpretation of obstetric violence by highlighting the experiences of married women with wanted pregnancies; almost all research to date focuses on the experiences of unmarried pregnant women or unwanted pregnancies. This examination of symphysiotomy and obstetric violence in Ireland illuminates the ways in which religious, national, and medical power has been mapped on women’s reproductive bodies, particularly in the decades after independence in 1922. It also makes essential links between Ireland’s past and present, demonstrating that a careful analysis of the history of obstetric violence and the religious underpinnings of it are essential in understanding Ireland today. With this research, we also place symphysiotomy within the context of the global reproductive justice movement, asking how a reproductive justice framework – one that links reproductive rights with social justice – can help us interpret obstetric violence and address the wounds of Ireland’s past.

This research proposes a framework to guide the development and analysis of digital interventions, namely, through mobile applications, regarding labor and birth. By complying with current scientific evidence, this paper aims to contribute to the safeness and completeness of perinatal health education targeting expectant parents.

A content analysis was conducted on a document containing World Health Organization guidelines for intra-partum, considering the following categories: timeframe, care options, category of recommendation, to create a data set clearly distinguishing between recommendations and non-recommendations. Context-specific and research-context recommendations, details from dosages, measurements and timings, infant care and non-immediate postpartum topics were considered out of the scope of this study.

The results were summarized in a table, ready to be used as a data set, including the following 16 care options ranging from health, well-being and/or rights: respect, communication, companionship, pregnant person’s monitoring, status, fetal monitoring, pain relief, pain management, amenities, labor delay prevention, progress, freedom of choice, facilitation of birth, prevention of postpartum hemorrhage, umbilical cord care and recovery. These were distributed across six timeframes: always, admission, first, second and third stage of labor and immediate postpartum. In addition, recommendations and non-recommendations are displayed in different columns.

This transdisciplinary research intends to contribute to: future research on perinatal education; the creation of digital interventions, namely, m-health ones, targeting expectant parents by providing a framework of content coverage; the endorsement of the rights to Information and to decision-making. Ultimately, when put into practice, the framework can impact self-care through access to perinatal education.

This paper reports on insights from an evaluation of Birth Companions (BC) (a UK-based charity) perinatal support in two prison settings in England. The initiative involved the provision of group and/or one-to-one perinatal support and training women prisoners as peer supporters.

A mixed-methods study was undertaken that involved observations of support groups and peer support supervision sessions (n = 9); audio recorded interviews (n = 33) with prison and health-care staff, women in prison, peer supporters and BC staff; analysis of existing routinely collected data by BC and notes undertaken during regular meetings (n = 10) with the BC Project Manager. Thematic analysis was undertaken supported by MAXQDA qualitative data analysis software.

BC provided instrumental/practical support, emotional support, information support, signposting to services and advocating for women to the prison concerning their perinatal needs and rights. Key themes revealed that support had an impact on the lives of perinatal women by creating a safe place characterised by meaningful interactions and women-centred approaches that facilitated access to wider care and support. The service made a difference by empowering women and providing added value for peer supporters, prison, health-care and BC staff. Key enablers and strategies for the care of perinatal women and the delivery of perinatal support are also detailed.

Through longitudinal data and the involvement of a range of stakeholders, this study evidences the subtleties of support provided by BC and the potential it has to make a difference to perinatal women in prison and those volunteering or working within the prison system.

The findings from a case‐control study of perinatal deaths occurring within a health authority during 1982 are described. No clear‐cut picture between cases and controls emerged for a range of social, maternal and access to service variables. The tentative findings suggested that, once mothers were in the health care system, differences in medical practice and attitudes might be related to perinatal outcome. Participant observation led to the identification of problems in communication between the mothers and some members of medical staff. This led to “victim‐blaming” and to mothers′ anxieties not being taken seriously, sometimes with serious consequences. It is suggested that “victim‐blaming” behaviour has its roots in the deep and long‐term processes of medical socialisation. How the range of explanations for inequalities in health, set out in the Black Report, may be implicitly adopted in inconsistent ways in the delivery of health care to this particular group, is illustrated.

Perinatal mental health (PMH) is acknowledged as a significant public health issue associated with significant personal, family, social and economic burden. Research demonstrates that healthcare practitioners lack knowledge and confidence in this area but there is likely to be a complexity of factors that may influence practitioner behaviours, including negative attitudes towards people with mental health and inaccurate illness perceptions. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Perinatal Illness Perceptions Scale (PIPS), a conceptual derivation of the Illness Perception Questionnaire – Revised.

A cross-sectional and exploratory instrument development design, using exploratory factor analysis, was employed.

The scale demonstrated good psychometric properties revealing three sub-scales: causes, consequences (mother); consequences (baby).

The findings implicate the PIPS as the first robust psychometric measure, which can be used to in the assessment of practitioner knowledge of the causes and consequences of PMH. The PIPS could offer the opportunity to assess these domains within both educational and training context and identify practitioner attitudes which may affect clinical decision making and referral decisions.

There has been substantial interest in US cesarean rates, which increased from 5% of deliveries in the 1970s to nearly one-third of births by the mid-2000s. Explanations typically emphasize individual risk factors (e.g., advanced maternal age, increased BMI, and greater desire for control over delivery) of women giving birth, or address institutional factors, such as the medicalization of childbirth and the culture of liability leading physicians to practice defensive medicine. We focus here on another non-medical explanation – childbirth education (CBE). CBE is an important, underexplored mechanism that can shape women’s expectations about labor and birth and potentially lead them to expect, or desire, a cesarean delivery as a normalized outcome. We analyze data from three waves (2002, 2006, 2013) of the Listening to Mothers national survey on US women’s childbearing experiences (n = 3,985). Using logistic regression analysis, we examined both mode of delivery (vaginal versus cesarean), and attitudes about future request for elective cesarean among both primiparous and multiparous women. Despite previous research suggesting that CBE increased the likelihood of vaginal delivery, we find that CBE attendance was not associated with likelihood of vaginal delivery among either primiparous or multiparous women. However, both primiparous and multiparous women who attended CBE classes were significantly more likely to say they would request a future, elective cesarean. Furthermore, these effects were in the opposite direction of effects for natural birth attitudes. Our findings suggest that contemporary CBE classes may be a form of “anticipatory socialization”, potentially priming women’s acceptance of medicalized childbirth.

Mental health is an emerging health policy priority globally. The emphasis on closing the treatment gap in psychiatric services is now being complemented by an increasing focus on prevention and health promotion. The purpose of this paper is to describe the programmes and delivery of public mental health in England led by Public Health England (PHE), an arms-length body of the Department of Health and Social Care.

This technical paper outlines the general approach PHE has taken in delivering national work in public mental health and describes several key areas of work: children and young people, suicide prevention, workplace and workforce, strategic engagement with stakeholders, data and information and evidence synthesis.

A description of the various programmes and guidance documents that PHE have produced are described and referenced, which form a substantial body of work in public mental health.

The outputs from PHE may assist in informing the approach to public mental health that other government agencies could consider adopting. The resources described and signposted within this technical paper are publicly available for readers.

England is one of a small group of countries that have a track record in delivering public mental health at a national level. This paper gives a unique and detailed insight into this work.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of pregnancy or baby loss on families, and their ability to access suitable support. Miscarriage and stillbirth are not rare events and losing a baby can have an overwhelming and long-term impact on parents and on existing and subsequent children.

This paper provides an overview of current relevant research, policy and practice.

Much research and service provision focuses on pregnancy or baby loss for parents without living children. This is predicated on the widely held assumption that existing children provide a protective factor mitigating the loss and going on to have another child is the best antidote to grief. Research does not substantiate this but highlights the difficulties parents experience when coping with pregnancy or baby loss alongside the needs of looking after existing children.

The identification of a “hidden” group of parents and children whose mental health and wellbeing is at risk without the provision of services. A tailored approach to the needs of the family is called for, including greater collaboration between statutory and third sector organisations.