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Life has many unpredictable events even when all is seemingly going well. Emotional support can be invaluable when provided in a nonjudgmental environment. Sometimes being listened to is all that matters. No one is ever prepared for the unexpected, even when their personal life situation is seemingly progressing well. However, nor does one know what will even occur daily in one's life. Perhaps it can be said that life itself is unplanned. The best interventions for the unplanned is a supportive presence, education, and active listening. The latter provides persons impacted by unplanned situations, the opportunity to calmly consider their options and make an informed decision.

Fear of birth may cause perinatal complication, increased risk of intervention and need for analgesia, delayed mother–infant attachment process and deterioration of spouse relationship. The purpose of this study was to determine the affecting factors and childbirth fears of Turkish pregnant women.

This is a descriptive research type. The sample of this study consisted of 78 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate in this study. This study was carried out in a family health center and university hospital in a city in Turkey. Data were collected with Personal Information Form and Wijma Expectancy/Experience Scale-A Version (W-DEQ A).

The mean scores of pregnant women from W-DEQ A version were 75.60 ± 9.48. In 65.4% of pregnant women, fear of severe birth, 20.5% fear of clinical birth and 14.1% of children had a fear of moderate birth. W-DEQ A version, the third trimester, unplanned pregnancies, lack of knowledge of the level of inadequate birth and more than eight pregnancies in pregnancy, the total score of pregnant women was found to be higher (p < 0.05).

The limitation of this study is its small sample size. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed.

It was determined that one-fifth of the sample group experienced birth fear at the clinical level and childbirth fear level is associated with unplanned pregnancies, lack of knowledge. In antenatal period, the pregnant woman should be encouraged to express her feelings and thoughts about the labor and give information about the labor.

Cognitive and behavioral education programs can be structured to cope with fear of birth for pregnant women at risk.

This research is original. This study presents data on Turkish women. The data can also be used to evaluate intercultural differences.

Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) allow a second chance to prevent unwanted pregnancy in unplanned sexual intercourse. Therefore, it helps reduce the rate of induced or unsafe abortions. Although they are available over-the-counter in Myanmar, relevant information remains improperly known by women and its use is limited. The purpose of this paper is to identify the prevalence and associated factors of ECPs use among women of reproductive age in the delta region of Myanmar.

This community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Pathein Township, Ayeyarwady Division, Myanmar from March 30 to April 29, 2018. This study was conducted among 238 respondents selected using multistage sampling and face-to-face interviews employed structured questionnaires. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the associations among variables.

The prevalence of ECPs use among reproductive aged women was 11.3 percent. Factors significantly associated with ECPs use were high monthly family income (AOR=4.50, 95% CI=1.31–15.48), condom use (AOR=4.40, 95% CI=1.07–18.16) and never having experienced pregnancy (AOR=6.20, 95% CI=2.06–18.67).

To improve the use of ECPs, extension of services such as opening hours or working days is needed. The government and NGOs should implement the services to support women who have encountered unplanned sexual intercourse so that unwanted pregnancy can be prevented.

This study aims to examine the characteristics of pregnant women who used methamphetamine to determine the differences in characteristics between teenagers (aged under 20 or 20–25 years) and adult women who used methamphetamine during this period.

This retrospective study extracted data from the medical records of obstetric patients who gave birth between 2011 and 2015 in a tertiary hospital in Thailand. All included patients were diagnosed with amphetamine use disorder. Demographic data, history of antenatal care, history of substance use and psychiatric evaluations were recorded.

Four hundred and twelve patients were recruited for analysis. Of these, 194 (53.4%) did not attend regular antenatal care, 326 (92.1%) had unplanned pregnancies and 42 (12.5%) had a history of abortions. Socially, 47 patients (21.7%) reported drug use in their families and 160 (49.5%) reported a history of parental separation. Compared with the adult and 20–25 years groups, the < 20 years group tended to have a lower educational level, have experienced parental separation and had more regular antenatal care.

Pregnant teenagers with methamphetamine use had psychosocial difficulties. Physicians should be aware of these psychosocial issues, including education and family planning.

These findings showed that pregnant women who used methamphetamine faced psychosocial difficulties, unplanned pregnancies and inadequate antenatal care. Adult and teenage pregnant women who used methamphetamine differed in some ways. For example, teenage pregnant women tended to be of a lower education level, experienced parental separation and had a history of more frequent antenatal care. Further longitudinal research exploring the outcomes of mothers who used methamphetamine and their children is needed to build on the existing evidence.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors associated with drinking patterns during pregnancy.

A rapid evidence assessment was undertaken, scanning multiple databases for studies examining factors associated with alcohol consumption in pregnancy. Studies were included if they stratified data according to quantity of alcohol consumed and identified relevant associated factors. Drinking patterns were classified as light/moderate and heavy/binge.

In total, 15 studies were included (N=7 light/moderate; N=15 heavy/binge drinking). Factors associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy included: smoking, age, SES, marital status, pre-pregnancy substance use and parity. While few studies reported an association between heavy/binge drinking and maternal mental health, none of the studies included explored the association between mental health and light/moderate drinking.

Relatively few studies have looked at the association between psychological characteristics of women and their drinking patterns. There is a lack of articles examining light/moderate drinking in pregnancy compared to heavy/binge drinking. Moreover, there is marked variation in how alcohol use is measured. Further studies are needed to increase understanding of the association between psychological factors and patterns of drinking during pregnancy, and how health professionals might support women in this context.

The authors expand on previous work by examining two different patterns of alcohol consumption in pregnancy, rather than alcohol use simply as an isolated concept. The two groups were found to differ in a number of demographic and social factors. This information could be used to aid healthcare professionals in targeting specific interventions to those women most at risk.

Turkish mothers’ interactions with medical authorities during pregnancy and childbirth have developed in a context of risk discourses produced by biomedical experts with surveillance justified by these discourses. Giving meaning to pregnancy and childbirth through the search for the reduction of risks is a reflexive part of Turkish mothers’ everyday life.

This research paper aims to discuss a study examining how pregnancy and childbirth are socially constructed, how increased medicalization is experienced by Turkish mothers, and how they assign meaning to pregnancy and childbirth. A phenomenological research was designed using depth interviews with 10 Turkish mothers with children aged 0–6 years, living in Istanbul who had high education and welfare levels.

The findings shed light on Turkish mothers’ subjective experiences and how medicine as a profession shapes these experiences. With the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth, how the trust toward the experts, the knowledge of preparation for maternity in an appropriate and responsible manner have become functional for Turkish mothers to create a sense of ontological security are examined.

This chapter examines how women deploy gendered motherhood norms to publicly challenge abortion stigma. Drawing on a sample of 41 abortion stories from women living in Tennessee, I find that women evoke notions of intensive, total, and idealized motherhood in order to manage and challenge the stigma of an abortion. A large proportion of these stories were written by married mothers who emphasized their identities as good mothers and wives. A close qualitative analysis of these trends reveals two dominant forms of recasting abortion. First, abortion is framed as an extension of total mothering to spare an unborn baby from risky health conditions. Part of this includes casting abortion as an often-necessary choice in order for a woman to develop into the perfect mother for the benefit of her children – altruistic self-development. Second, abortion is construed as a form of maternal protection of current children to continue intensively mothering them. Both themes speak to women’s strategies for reframing abortion as a health practice to promote the well-being of children. These findings have implications for the study of medical stigma, reproduction, and the impact of gender ideals on women’s health choices.

Aims to describe pregnant women with poor emotional health and the relationship between self‐reported emotional health and prenatal care satisfaction. To this end, 1,265 women who delivered a live‐born singleton infant were interviewed and information abstracted from prenatal records. Concludes that patient assessment of satisfaction with prenatal care may be related to both self‐reported emotional health and delivery of medical care. Identifying and addressing emotional health of prenatal patients may improve compliance with medical recommendations, ultimately improving health outcomes.

Family planning is one of the services that has positive influence on the social welfare and health of the mothers and directly contributes to reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality. Family planning is a major health issue in Africa and it has degenerated more into socioeconomic problems like poverty, overpopulation, delinquent children, and so on. Studies have shown that family planning is safe to use but this has remains obscure to most women in developing countries such as Nigeria. Fewer numbers of women have knowledge and access to family planning but majority of Nigerians failed to adopt the habit as a result of many factors such as education, age, culture, religion, income, and health status which influence their attitude toward family planning among others. Social Action Theory was used as the theoretical guide in examining the behavior, attitude, and perception of women toward family planning as well as to give a clear knowledge about the importance of family planning on individual, family, and society at large. This chapter reveals that population explosion, malnutrition, and diseases such as HIV (and other diseases) are trending in Nigeria. Hence, it was recommended that every health worker should engage more in community-based awareness and enlightenment on the utilization of family planning; also, there is a need to intensify information dissemination and educational campaigns through the media. Furthermore, importance should be placed on modern contraceptives.