Thesis (M. Mid.)--University of Sheffield, 2007. / "June, 2007." Issued as part of the Canadian electronic library documents collection. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-55).

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

Magister Curationis / Research has shown that there is a problem in the delivery of quality care in maternal and child health services in Zambia. The 1996 Zambia demographic and health survey estimated maternal mortality rate as high as 649 per 100,000 live birth, with this reason among others, human resource constraints and low number of supervised antenatal clinics, deliveries and postnatal clinics by skilled personnel as some of the reasons for the high maternal mortality. Selected studies identify the role of a clinical nurse specialist in advanced midwifery and neonatology who has acquired the knowledge and practical skills to bring about the desired impact of quality care in safe mother hood in order to bring down the high maternal mortality rates. In order to achieve this, the government needs to integrate the advanced midwifery and neonatology clinical nurse specialist in the health system. It was the purpose of the study to inquire into the feasibility of integration of the advanced midwifery and neonatology clinical nurse specialist in the Ndola District Health system . / South Africa

Master of Public Health - MPH / Maternal health care services are one of the health interventions to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. The health of mothers of childbearing age and of the unborn babies is influenced by many factors some of which include the availability and accessibility of health services for pregnant women. Low quality of health services being provided, and limited access to health facilities is correlated with increases maternal morbidity and mortality. This situation is caused by long distances between facilities as well as the people's own beliefs in traditional practices. This study was about the assessment of the women's knowledge on benefits of delivery in a hospital, the barriers to delivery services, and the perception of the delivery services rendered in the maternity ward of Okakarara hospital. / South Africa

No description available.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that no region in the world is justified in having a caesarean section rate greater than 10-15 percent, calculated as the number of caesarean deliveries over the total number of live births. There is however, an international increase in the rate of caesarean section deliveries and this is a concern to midwives. The increase is evident in South Africa as well. Currently the rate of caesarean section deliveries in the private sector can be as high as 70 percent per total number of live births per year. As a result, the public often perceives giving birth surgically in South Africa as ‘normal’ and ‘safer’ than vaginal delivery, even for low-risk pregnancies. The lack of involvement of midwives in the care of pregnant women in the private sector is indicated as one of the reasons related to the high caesarean section delivery rates. This motivated the researcher to undertake a study to explore and describe the perceptions of private sector midwives and obstetricians regarding the feasibility of collaboration in maternity care. A literature review to support the study identified research done previously regarding collaborative maternity care. The study followed a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual design. The research population included midwives and obstetricians in the private sector in the Eastern Cape. Non-probability, purposive sampling was used. The researcher conducted semi-structured one-to-one interviews to collect information rich data. The researcher ensured that the study was conducted in an ethical manner by adhering to ethical principles such as autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice. The interviews were transcribed and Creswell’s’ data analysis spiral was used as a guide for the data analysis. Themes and sub-themes were identified and grouped together to form new categories. An independent coder assisted with the coding process. Data analysis results revealed the following results Participants perceived a collaborative working relationship as being beneficial to maternity care. Participants identified that there might be critical impediments that need to be faced in order to realize collaborative maternity care. The researcher ensured the validity of the study by conforming to Lincoln and Guba’s model of trustworthiness, which consists of the following four criteria namely credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability. The information obtained from this study assisted in developing guidelines to facilitate the implementation of collaborative maternity care between midwives and obstetricians in private practice in South Africa. The objective of the study was thus met.

Includes bibliographical references / This thesis focuses on the use of maternal health services and child health in Tanzania. The main focus is on how these issues relate to social networks and bargaining power within couples. These issues are interrelated and are discussed in three essays. The first essay investigates the impact of information externalities in social networks on the use of antenatal services. Particular emphasis is placed on the extent to which the probability of early antenatal check-up and antenatal completion are affected by social networks. Adopting an econometric technique that minimises the problem of omitted variable bias, the analysis suggests that these network effects increase the probability of antenatal care completion by an additional 6 to 35 percent, and may be as high as 59 percent. The study further finds that without adequate control of omitted variables, the network impact would be understated. It is also evident that failure to control for individual and household observable characteristics overstates the impact of networks. Results from the two approaches used in this study confirm that irrespective of the definition of social network, having a high quality contacts increase the probability of utilising maternal health services. The second essay examines the effect of bargaining power within couples on the probability of delivering in a health facility (public and private), as opposed to a home birth. It further investigates the effect of bargaining on the probability of health care provider choice at childbirth using a multinomial nested logit. Evidence suggests that cooperation within couples in decision-making, female discretion over household resources, and freedom from domestic violence increases the probability of childbirth in a facility, as opposed to home. The study finds that a woman's influence on service use varies if she is better educated than her partner. In addition, while cooperation in household decision and the incidence of domestic violence significantly affect private facility use, female discretion over household resources has a strong effect on public facility choice. Finally, antenatal completion, health knowledge, and maternal specific factors increase the probability of delivering in a public and private facility. ii The third essay empirically explores the contribution of intra-household bargaining, to the rural-urban gap in child nutrition. The study analyses the effect of parental bargaining indicators (cooperation in household decisions, the incidence domestic violence and discretion over household resources) on the probability of child stunting in both rural and urban areas. The essay contributes to the literature by demonstrating empirically that differences in intra-household bargaining increase the rural-urban gap in child health. It further contributes to the literature by correcting for possible sample selection bias. The results suggest that the significant effects of household bargaining indicators on child stunting in Tanzania are mainly from the rural and not the urban population. It provides evidence that weak bargaining power within couples in rural areas account for 5 percent of the rural-urban gap in child nutrition. The contribution reduces to 4 percent after correcting for sample selection bias. The results also suggest that failure to adequately correct for selection bias leads to a substantial underestimation of the overall rural-urban gap in child nutrition by 11 percent.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, School of Nursing, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 116 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-87).

Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1939.