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The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of complementary and alternative medical applications (CAM) and non-drug treatments of women during their pregnancies, postpartum periods and the changes between these periods. The Screening Form for Non-pharmacologic Methods Used during Pregnancy and Postpartum period was administered to the participants. Passiflora (Incarnata), Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort), omega 3 supplements, bright light treatment, transmagnetic stimulation, S-adenosyl-methionine, herbal teas, biofeedback/neurofeedback, amulets, exercise, acupuncture and psychotherapy were investigated. The ratio of the use of one of the CAM methods for psychiatric complaints during people's lifetime was found to be 33.3% (n=162). Herbal teas were the main practice used during pregnancy (58.8%) and the postpartum. The use of CAM according to the utilization periods of the participants statistically significantly decreased in those who were currently pregnant (Cochran's Q=298.007; P<0.05). The use of participants' non-drug treatments in the periodical follow-up decreased in those who are currently pregnant and increased during the postpartum period.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the concept of holistic wellness to a postpartum care resort experiencescape to enhance women’s health and well-being. Several relevant theories are highlighted to demonstrate how to design a soothing postpartum care experiencescape. This paper also discusses the notion of regenerative business practices to achieve a win-win-win (customer–resort–community) strategy composed of collaborative networks that serve people and the planet.

A multidisciplinary literature review discusses the lack of postpartum care in the USA and shows how resorts could help improve women’s health and well-being by offering postpartum care services. This is a theory synthesis paper that seeks to achieve conceptual integration across multiple frameworks.

This conceptual model displays the interconnected relationships of holistic wellbeing, postpartum care experiencescape design and regenerative practices.

The essence of this conceptual paper is to address postpartum care in the USA and to develop a conceptual model for designing postpartum care experiencescapes in a resort setting.

The authors offer suggestions on how resorts and health-care services can co-design a postpartum care resort experiencescape to transform the mother’s postpartum period to the joy of parenthood.

This paper discusses how postpartum care experiencescapes in the resort context would contribute to solving some prevalent societal issues while advancing the future of hospitality research and businesses.

No research within the hospitality literature has yet discussed how the hospitality industry can collaborate with the health-care sector to establish postpartum care services to be at the forefront in leading the age of regeneration.

Food taboos during pregnancy and the postpartum period have been linked to increased risk of maternal and neonatal death. This paper aims to present plant-based food restrictions on Southeast Asian women during pregnancy and after giving birth and the rationale behind such cultural practices.

Google® Scholar, PubMed and Scopus search using the term food taboo, its synonyms and truncations, in combination with the terms pregnancy, postpartum and breastfeeding, and with the name of the Southeast Asian countries, was conducted from January to February 2017. Articles were included in the review if their full texts were accessible online, in English, published from 2005 to 2016 and if they contained primary data from either quantitative or qualitative method.

A total of 281 articles were downloaded, and 28 were included in this review. The food taboos and the reasons for avoidance were collated and grouped per their occurrence and according to the country or countries where they are practiced. In total, 14 papers generated data on food taboos during pregnancy, 16 papers on postpartum food taboos and/or 6 on breastfeeding.

This review pools together relevant information about plant-based food taboos Southeast Asian women adhere to during pregnancy and after giving birth. However, data are absent for some of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, and there is a need for more research to get up-to-date information on the local women’s adherence to these cultural practices.

The knowledge of these practices can support stakeholders who are contributing to the reduction of maternal and under-five mortality ratios in Southeast Asia.

This is the first review paper on food taboos covering all ASEAN members and highlighting the need for cultural sensitivity to properly address maternal and child health problems in the region.

Mothers play important roles in their families' lives. When they are high performance athletes, they need specific supports that will enable them to excel in their roles as mother athletes. The feminist qualitative research in this chapter is based on data from two studies drawn from semi-structured interviews with elite female distance runners: 14 in 2013–2014 and 11 in 2021. We address two questions: (1) what are the considerations that elite female distance runners make around planning their pregnancy(ies) and family lives? and (2) how have experiences shifted between athlete interviews in 2013–2014 and a new cohort of athletes in 2021? In order to address these questions, we drew on three complementary theoretical approaches: liberal feminism, radical feminism, and strategic essentialism. Further, we then used thematic analysis and generated three broader themes about elite female distance runners that aligned with both cohorts of athletes. First, athletes are forced to plan/strategize their pregnancies around finances, competitions, contracts, and spousal supports due to the lack of support from athletic governing bodies or corporate sponsors. Second, female athletes who choose to have children experience stress and uncertainty in their athletic careers that their male counterparts do not. Third, elite female athletes are demanding that further change occur to address these inequalities, and participants offered a number of potential solutions to improve supports for these athletes. Although solid progress has been noted in the timeframes of our two cohorts, further commitment from athletic governing bodies and corporate sponsors is needed to work toward gender equity in athletics.

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.

The aim of this study is to determine the preferences to participate in diabetes screening program of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in postpartum period.

The data of retrospective and descriptive study were collected using “Individual Identification Form” and “Information Form for the Screening of Diabetes in the Postpartum Period” from 151 women in referred to obstetrics and gynecology clinic of a university hospital in Turkey.

Only 21.9% of women had diabetes screening in postpartum period and 21.2% of the participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It was determined that the participants mostly participated in screening because of the diabetes history in their family (30.3%). Women who had diabetes screening in postpartum period had lower level of education than those who did not and their level of knowledge about the screening in postpartum and the history of abortion were higher (p < 0.01).

The rate of participation in the screening for diabetes in the postpartum period is very low in pregnant women diagnosed with GDM. It was determined that the educational status, history of previous abortion and knowledge level of the women were factors that prevented participation in diabetes screening. This research is original because there are inadequacy of studies examining determining the participation status of pregnant women with GDM to diabetes screening in the literature. This study will contribute to health professionals in order to improve preventive factors and increase the participation of pregnant women with GDM in diabetes screening in the postpartum period.

Despite 77 per cent antenatal care coverage and 90 per cent skilled attendant at delivery, adjusted maternal mortality in Iran is 76 per 100,000 births. Low quality of maternal health services is one cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. However, few and limited studies have been devoted to the quality of postpartum care in Iran. This study aims to assess quality of care in postpartum wards of Shaheed Beheshti Medical Science University hospitals to show weakness and gaps areas in the care procedure for future improvement intervention programs. It is a descriptive study to assess quality of care in postpartum wards of Shaheed Beheshti Medical Science University hospitals, in 2003.

Using quota sampling, 60 healthy women were recruited for the study. Data were collected using three forms including a questionnaire with demographic and obstetrics questions, a check‐list for the postpartum care and education quality assessment. Control of vital signs, uterus assessment, perineum assessment, leaving bed, urinary system assessment, digestive system assessment, breast examination, extremities assessment, psychological assessment, as well as education about perineum self‐care, breast‐feeding, infant care, education before discharge and educational method. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire and checklist were assessed prior to use. Data were analyzed using SPSS.

Results showed compatibility of provided postpartum care with the standards as follows: method of patient's education (52.68 per cent); control of vital signs (43.21 per cent); education about breast‐feeding (26.06 per cent); care in getting out of bed (25.83 per cent); psychological care (19.36 per cent); urinary system assessment (16.66 per cent); education about perineum care (13.12 per cent); uterus assessment (10.6 per cent); digestive system assessment (9.69 per cent); patient's education before discharge (7.99 per cent); education about infant's care (7.81 per cent); perineum assessment (6.72 per cent); breast examination (1.11 per cent); and assessment of extremities (0.81 per cent). The study demonstrated that weak postpartum care was provided in 82 per cent of cases but also that mothers were satisfied with provided care in all domains of care. Mothers were very satisfied with facilities and less satisfied with personnel interaction with their visitors in hospital. There was no significant correlation between quality of services and clients' satisfaction (Spearman test, p<0.05).

For the first time in Iran, this study has evaluated quality of care in postpartum wards of hospitals based on the defined standards. The study provided a defined standard for postpartum care, which is necessary for regular monitoring and evaluation and so evidence‐based intervention programs to improve the system of care. It was also postulated that mothers' satisfaction with care is not always a good indicator of services quality.

Understanding parental psychopathology interaction is important in preventing negative family outcomes. This study investigated the effect of paternal psychiatric history on maternal depressive symptom trajectory from birth to 12 months postpartum. Maternal Edinburgh Postpartum Depression screens were collected at 1, 6 and 12 months and fathers' psychiatric diagnoses were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV from 64 families. There was not a significant difference in the trajectory of maternal depressive symptoms between mothers with partners with history of or a current psychiatric condition or those without a condition. However, mothers with partners with substance abuse history had higher levels of depressive symptoms relative to those affected by mood/anxiety disorders or those without a disorder. Our results call for a closer look at paternal history of substance abuse when treating postpartum maternal depression.

Studies of the first year of infant psychomotor development in cases of maternal postpartum depression are lacking. The mother and baby unit (MBU) is a healthcare system available to infants and their mothers during the postpartum period in a psychiatric hospital, which provides support and preserves the parent's role in the child's daily care. The aim of the paper is to describe the developmental profile of babies of mothers with severe postpartum depression treated in an MBU through the developmental quotients. Using the Brunet-Lézine scale, we studied six-month-old infants whose mothers were hospitalized. The study population consisted of 15 infants. The mean global developmental quotient score was 96.7. A developmental quotient lower than 80 was not observed for any of the children. We found no global psychomotor developmental delays. Despite this, the posture subscore was the area in which we observed the most difficulties. It is possible that the tonic dialogue between the mother and infant is disrupted by maternal depression.

The preservation and disappearance of indigenous people’s traditional knowledge system, under mainstream social culture immersion and fusion, have presented a dynamic and changing acculturation interactive relationship impacting Truku women’s health concepts. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore how the traditional Gaya knowledge system and mainstream culture confinement care model affect the beliefs and behaviours of postpartum self-care amongst contemporary Truku women.

An ethnographic semi-structured method, based on cultural care factors and the Leininger Sunrise Model, was conducted to interview 17 Truku women with childbearning experience in eastern Taiwan. As data were collected, UDIST Vivo 11.0 software was applied for analysis.

Amongst the three knowledge system categories, namely, traditional, mainstream and reconstruction, the traditional knowledge system, including Gaya norms, provides the overall cultural value of a Truku family. While taboo is inherited through the experience of the elders, the mainstream knowledge system favours the Han. However, the reconstruction knowledge system highlights the “functional” response strategies based on Truku women’s comfort and conveniences.

Limited relevant studies have focused on the health and postpartum self-care knowledge of ethnic Truku women in Taiwan. The results are expected to provide clinical medical personnel with a reference and strengthen cultural sensitivity and the ability to implement the cultural congruency care of postpartum indigenous women in Taiwan.