Background: Consensual non-monogamous couples (CNMCs) are viewed less favourably than their heteromononormative counterparts by the general population and by healthcare providers. Research indicates that they are less likely to seek health care and are at greater risk for STIs and HIV. This stigma and judgment perceived by CNMCs can be even further compounded when these couples choose to have a child. No study to date has looked at consensual non-monogamous parenting couples (CNMPCs) during the transition to parenthood. The aim of the present study was to explore Manitoban CNMCs’ perceptions of the conciliation between their parenting role and their sexual lifestyle during the transition to parenthood. Methodology: This mixed methods descriptive, exploratory study used a triangulation design-convergence model. Six participants identifying as CNMCs during the transition to parenthood were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide as well as completing an online questionnaire. Results: The participants in this sample experienced challenges in regard to their transition to parenthood as many other parents do, yet this transition was more harmonious for some participants compared to others. Consensual non-monogamy (CNM) was a sexual lifestyle chosen either before or during this transition. However, the lifestyle did stop during conception and pregnancy, and was resumed several months after childbirth. Relationship breakdown may occur, but not necessarily associated with CNM. The conciliation of parenting and sexual roles is facilitated when communication and intimacy are present between partners. Participants emphasized the importance of family before their chosen sexual lifestyle. The relationship with health care providers is critical for participants of CNM as it impacts how they seek health care or disclose their lifestyle. This is more important during the transition to parenthood as more challenges can be present. Three phases that CNMCs pass through were also identified, contemplation, acting and incorporation, to integrate CNM as a lifestyle. Discussion: These findings permitted a closer look at the conciliation of the parenting role and the sexual lifestyle of CNMPCs during their transition to parenthood. These findings demonstrated not only how CNMPCs were similar and different from participants in other studies, but also highlighted how they were uniquely distinct. This distinction appears to stem from a certain resilience gained from the three phases of the incorporation of CNM as a lifestyle that appears to buffer these couples in situations of stress. A new proposed model, CNMPCs’ Model of Resilience during the Incorporation of CNM as a Lifestyle While Parenting, is suggested. There is a need for more psychosexual education for perinatal nurses in regard to sexuality minorities such as CNMPCs in the context of the transition to parenthood.

This poststructuralist qualitative study explored the discourses constructing women’s choice for a caesarean section in the absence of clinical indications, in the talk and texts of women, midwives, an obstetrician, professional journals and the media publications. The study affirms inscriptions surrounding choice in childbirth are shaped discursively through a multiplicity of discourses underpinned by social and institutional practices. With advances in technology, childbearing women have a greater variety of options from which to choose. Controversial, is the option of a caesarean section, regardless of clinical need. The issue is depicted in both professional and popular discourse as contentious, complex and contradictory. Its momentum into the 21st century, as a new object of obstetric discourse, has been played out on a number of platforms. In this thesis I draw from the theoretical ideas of French philosopher Michel Foucault, to examine this complex debate. I argue there is a volatile moment in the history of childbirth in which an explosion of discourses have sculptured choice for a caesarean, in the absence of clinical indications, out of a repartee of autonomy, convenience, desire, fear and risk. In this precarious moment, new meanings joust with the old on a shifting terrain awash with rhetoric that co-opts, competes, and contradicts to bring about a caché of mutable ‘truths’. Whether caesarean, as an optional extra, can be explained in terms of a libertarian imperative, an embodiment of lifestyle, the satiation of desire, the attenuation of fear or the avoidance of risk, the democratisation of this choice has exposed a pathologising paradox, whereupon the normal emerges as the abnormal, and the abnormal emerges as the normal. The deconstruction of choice through a poststructuralist lens has enabled insight into how contradiction and contest befall the ‘order of things ’ and in so doing, provides new openings for contemplating the discursive positioning of women through the competing discourses of childbirth.

Background: Little is known about the relationship between women's birthing experiences and the development of trauma symptoms. This study aimed to determine the incidence of acute trauma symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women as a result of their labor and delivery experiences, and identify factors that contributed to the women's psychological distress. Method: Using a prospective, longitudinal design, women in their last trimester of pregnancy were recruited from four public hospital antenatal clinics. Four to six weeks postpartum, telephone interviews were conducted with participants (n = 499) and explored the medical and midwifery management of the birth, perceptions of intrapartum care, and the presence of trauma symptoms. Results: One in three women (33%) identified a traumatic birthing event and reported the presence of at least three trauma symptoms. Twenty-eight women (5.6%) met DSM-IV criteria for acute posttraumatic stress disorder. Antenatal variables were not found to contribute to the development of acute or chronic trauma symptoms. The level of obstetric intervention experienced during childbirth (beta = .351, p <.0001) and the perception of inadequate intrapartum care (beta = .319, p <.0001) during labor were consistently associated with the development of acute trauma symptoms. Conclusions: Posttraumatic stress disorder following childbirth is an under-recognized phenomenon. Women who experienced both a high level of obstetric intervention and were dissatisfied with their intrapartum care were more likely to develop trauma symptoms than women who received a high level of obstetric intervention or women who perceived their care to be inadequate. Such findings should prompt a serious review of intrusive obstetric intervention during labor and delivery, and the psychological care provided to birthing women.

The study reviewed the provision of childbirth and parenting education in the ACT for indicators of effectiveness and needs. Users (n = 207) and providers (n = 7) were surveyed for information on educational and administrative aspects of the service. An original design questionnaire was based on the PRECEDE framework (predisposing, reinforcing and enabling factors in educational diagnosis and evaluation) and the social model of health. Items were drawn from the relevant literature, concerning individual, social and service delivery elements of the health fields concept interpreted for pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. Individual factors were related to Maslow's hierarchy and the valuing approach to health education. The provider survey covered information on organisational elements, comprising inputs, processes, products, outputs and outcomes of childbirth education. The study comprised a literature review, cross-sectional non-experimental surveys of users and providers, and a needs assessment combining information from each of the three sources. Descriptive statistical techniques, analysis of variance and valuing analysis were used to extract information on effectiveness indicators and needs from the user data. Comparisons were made between present and past users, and between women of different ages, experience of pregnancy and preferences for public or private methods of education for childbirth. No evidence was found of individual differences in the women's attitudes, beliefs and values that could be attributed to education. However, users expressed strong approval and positive views of the service and its providers. The level of personal health skills, confidence and emotional preparatiqn they achieved through childbirth and parenting education did not fully meet their expectations. The survey also found that the organisation of childbirth and parenting education has not developed professionally like other health services. Service goals and objectives are ill-defined; planning and coordinating are inadequate for an integrated maternal health care system. The service's main resources are its highly motivated and dedicated teachers and clients. Several recommendations are made for educational and administrative measures to enhance service effectiveness within present organisational constraints, based on the needs identified by the study.

<p>Förlossningsvårdens processer har vanligen utvärderats med jämförelsetal samt statistik över bakgrundsfaktorer och interventioner. Utvärderingarna har använts som argument för att likna vården vid normal förlossning med den som krävs vid komplicerade förhållanden. WHO (1996) rekommenderade och kategoriserade vård vid normal förlossning. Ett instrument fanns utvecklat som använts i ett kvalitetsutvecklingsarbete för att kartlägga förlossningsvård i förhållande till WHO: s rekommendationer. Studiens syfte var att kartlägga barnmorskors dokumenterade vård enligt WHO: s rekommendationer om vård vid normal förlossning tre år efter föregående kartläggning. Studien var prospektiv och genomfördes på en medelstor svensk förlossningsavdelning. Det ovan beskrivna instrumentet användes för att granska barnmorskors dokumentation av medicinska och omvårdnadsmässiga ställningstaganden i 200 förlossningsjournaler. Resultatet består av data som beskrivs med deskriptiv statistik.</p><p>Resultatet visade att barnmorskorna använde vårdinsatser inom samtliga av WHO: s kategorier och att WHO: s rekommendationer följdes delvis. Barnmorskorna gjorde riskbedömning av kvinnorna vid ankomsten till förlossningen men anpassade sedan bara delvis vården utifrån denna riskbedömning. Medicinska interventioner exempelvis CTG, farmakologisk smärtlindring och oxytocinstimulering var ofta dokumenterade trots att de flesta kvinnorna bedömts som lågrisk vid ankomst. Basal övervakning av kvinnans fysiska välbefinnande exempelvis puls, blodtryck och temp dokumenterades sporadiskt och omvårdnadsmässiga variabler som exempelvis stöd var bara dokumenterat i enstaka journaler. Jämfört med de tidigare mätningarna och i förhållande till WHO: s rekommendationer har ett antal variabler fortsatt att utvecklas i positiv riktning och några har återgått efter att ha förändrats under kvalitetsutvecklingsarbetet. Några variabler har försämrats efter att kvalitetsutvecklingsarbetet avslutades.</p> / <p>Childbirth and the delivery process have traditionally been evaluated using descriptive statistics to describe background factors and interventions. These evaluations have been used as an argument to liken care in normal birth with the care necessary for women with complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. WHO (1996) classified the practices common in the conduct of normal childbirth in to four categories. An audit instrument intended to measure midwifery care in relation to these four categories was found. The instrument had been used within a quality improvement program.</p><p>The aim of the study was to describe documented intrapartal care in relation to WHO recommendations for care in normal birth, three years subsequent to the last auditing. The design was prospective and descriptive and the study was conducted in a middle sized Swed-ish maternity unit. The instrument was used to study midwifes´ documented care in 200 delivery records.</p><p>The results of the study showed that the midwives uses care and interventions from WHO´s four categories and that the recommendations from WHO were only partly adhered to. Midwives conducted risk assessments of the women on admission to the mater-nity unit, but they did not adjust the care to the result of the risk assessments. Medical interventions such as electronic fetal monitoring, use of pharmacological pain relief and oxytocin augmentation were frequently documented in spite of the fact that 82 % of the women were considered lowrisk. Physiological items such as pulse, blood-pressure and temperature were sparingly documented and caring variables for example support were scantily documented. Comparisons with previos audits and the relation to WHO´s recom-mendations shows that some variables developed positively, some changed during the quality improvement program and has now reverted to the state previous from the program. Some of the variables deteriorated.</p>

<p><strong>Syfte</strong></p><p>Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det fanns skillnader mellan kvinnor som blivit suturerade med ett snabbabsorberande monofilt suturmaterial, Caprosyn® och ett multifilt suturmaterial, Polysorb® då det gällde kvinnans uppfattning om hur bristningen läkte åtta veckor postpartum.</p><p><strong>Urval</strong></p><p>Ett konsekutivt randomiserat urval. Fyrahundratvå kvinnor som fått en bristning vid förlossningen randomiserades till att sutureras med antingen Caprosyn® eller Polysorb®. Den slutgiltiga svarsfrekvensen var 67 %, det största bortfallet var på förlossningsavdelningen.</p><p><strong>Metod</strong></p><p>En experimentell kvantitativ studie. Två enkäter användes i studien, en som barnmorskan besvarade direkt efter förlossningen om bristningens art samt en till de medverkande kvinnorna åtta veckor postpartum.</p><p><strong>Resultat</strong></p><p>Inga skillnader fanns mellan suturmaterialen då det gäller kvinnornas smärta i underlivet, obehag i underlivet, återupptagande av sexualliv, samlagssmärta, amning eller hur många kvinnor som sökt sjukvård samt varför de sökt sjukvård åtta veckor postpartum. Fler positiva kommentarer gavs av barnmorskorna om Polysorb® än om Caprosyn®. Om kvinnan ammade delvis och hade samlagssmärta var denna smärta större än för de kvinnor som ammade helt. Ju lägre kvinnan skattade sin förlossningsupplevelse desto mer smärta hade kvinnan vid samlag åtta veckor postpartum.</p><p><strong>Slutsats</strong></p><p>De två studerade suturmaterialen skiljer sig inte åt enligt de deltagande kvinnornas upplevelse åtta veckor efter förlossningen. Däremot fanns ett samband mellan smärta i underlivet och upplevelse av förlossningen samt mellan hur mycket kvinnan ammade och samlagssmärta. Sammanfattningsvis kan barnmorskor inom förlossningsvården använda sig av båda materialen vid suturering av bristningar efter förlossning utan att det påverkar kvinnans hälsa negativt.</p>

The purpose of this study was to discover a theory on how women decide to deliver their babies by cesarean section instead of experiencing a trial of labor and expected vaginal delivery when it is appropriate. The specific goals are to answer the research questions: What is the decision-making process by which healthy, low-risk women choose to deliver their babies by cesarean delivery in the absence of medical indications? What antecedents occur to influence a pregant woman's decision to undergo a maternal request cesaren section? Seven women from the surrounding Knoxville area underwent in-depth interviews. To qualify for the study, the women had to be healthy and low-risk, had an elective cesarean section within the last two years, be 18 years or older and reside in the East Tennessee area. Symbolic interactionism and feminism were utilized to provide a theoretical framework for the study. The grounded theory methodology by Strauss and Corbin (1990) was used to develop the core category, context, antecedents, intervening factors and consequences. From the data, a substantive theory was identified, "Having an elective c-section: Doing what's best." The antecedents of the women's decision were being scared and perceiving a cesarean section as an easier way to give birth. Women made this choice after gathering information and seeking support from health care providers, friends and family within the context of progressing through the pregnancy. Once the decision was made and the cesarean section was performed, the women voiced happiness with their decision and in having a good outcome. The findings of this study may assist office nurses, public health nurses, midwives, advanced practice nurses, childbirth educators and other women's health nurses to educate women on their childbirth options and hopefully to reduce the rate of maternal request cesarean deliveries.

Introduction: In Western countries, about one pregnant woman in five experiences a considerable fear of childbirth (FOC). Consequently FOC is an important topic for midwives, being pregnant women’s main care givers. Also, although many aspects of FOC have been studied, almost no studies have into detail applied a theoretical frame of reference for studying pregnant women’s expectations for their upcoming labour and delivery. Therefore, the theory of self-efficacy, here regarding pregnant women’s belief in own capability to cope with labour and delivery, has been applied with the aim to better understand the phenomenon of FOC. Aim: The overall aims of the thesis were to describe midwives´ perceptions and views on FOC and to expand the current knowledge about expectations for the forthcoming birth in nulliparous women in the context of FOC. Method: Study I had a descriptive design. In total 21 midwives, distributed over four focus-groups, participated. Data were analysed by the phenomenographic approach. Studies II and III had cross sectional designs. Study II comprised 726 midwives, randomly selected from a national sample that completed a questionnaire that addressed the findings from Study I. Study III included 423 pregnant nulliparous women. FOC was measured using the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (W-DEQ), self-efficacy by the Childbirth Self-Efficacy Inventory (CBSEI). Study IV had a descriptive interpretative design. Seventeen women with severe FOC were conveniently selected from the sample of Study III and individually interviewed. Content analyses, both deductive and inductive, were performed. Method: Study I had a descriptive design. In total 21 midwives, distributed over four focus-groups, participated. Data were analysed by the phenomenographic approach. Studies II and III had cross sectional designs. Study II comprised 726 midwives, randomly selected from a national sample that completed a questionnaire that addressed the findings from Study I. Study III included 423 pregnant nulliparous women. FOC was measured using the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (W-DEQ), self-efficacy by the Childbirth Self-Efficacy Inventory (CBSEI). Study IV had a descriptive interpretative design. Seventeen women with severe FOC were conveniently selected from the sample of Study III and individually interviewed. Content analyses, both deductive and inductive, were performed. Conclusions: Swedish midwives regard severe FOC as a serious problem that influences pregnant women’s view on the forthcoming labour and delivery. Midwives at antenatal care clinics, compared to colleagues working at labour wards, experience a greater need for training in care of pregnant women with severe FOC. Self-efficacy is a useful construct and the self-efficacy theory an applicable way of thinking in analysing fear of childbirth. The self-efficacy concept might be appropriate in midwives’ care for women with severe FOC.

Syfte Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det fanns skillnader mellan kvinnor som blivit suturerade med ett snabbabsorberande monofilt suturmaterial, Caprosyn® och ett multifilt suturmaterial, Polysorb® då det gällde kvinnans uppfattning om hur bristningen läkte åtta veckor postpartum. Urval Ett konsekutivt randomiserat urval. Fyrahundratvå kvinnor som fått en bristning vid förlossningen randomiserades till att sutureras med antingen Caprosyn® eller Polysorb®. Den slutgiltiga svarsfrekvensen var 67 %, det största bortfallet var på förlossningsavdelningen. Metod En experimentell kvantitativ studie. Två enkäter användes i studien, en som barnmorskan besvarade direkt efter förlossningen om bristningens art samt en till de medverkande kvinnorna åtta veckor postpartum. Resultat Inga skillnader fanns mellan suturmaterialen då det gäller kvinnornas smärta i underlivet, obehag i underlivet, återupptagande av sexualliv, samlagssmärta, amning eller hur många kvinnor som sökt sjukvård samt varför de sökt sjukvård åtta veckor postpartum. Fler positiva kommentarer gavs av barnmorskorna om Polysorb® än om Caprosyn®. Om kvinnan ammade delvis och hade samlagssmärta var denna smärta större än för de kvinnor som ammade helt. Ju lägre kvinnan skattade sin förlossningsupplevelse desto mer smärta hade kvinnan vid samlag åtta veckor postpartum. Slutsats De två studerade suturmaterialen skiljer sig inte åt enligt de deltagande kvinnornas upplevelse åtta veckor efter förlossningen. Däremot fanns ett samband mellan smärta i underlivet och upplevelse av förlossningen samt mellan hur mycket kvinnan ammade och samlagssmärta. Sammanfattningsvis kan barnmorskor inom förlossningsvården använda sig av båda materialen vid suturering av bristningar efter förlossning utan att det påverkar kvinnans hälsa negativt.

Förlossningsvårdens processer har vanligen utvärderats med jämförelsetal samt statistik över bakgrundsfaktorer och interventioner. Utvärderingarna har använts som argument för att likna vården vid normal förlossning med den som krävs vid komplicerade förhållanden. WHO (1996) rekommenderade och kategoriserade vård vid normal förlossning. Ett instrument fanns utvecklat som använts i ett kvalitetsutvecklingsarbete för att kartlägga förlossningsvård i förhållande till WHO: s rekommendationer. Studiens syfte var att kartlägga barnmorskors dokumenterade vård enligt WHO: s rekommendationer om vård vid normal förlossning tre år efter föregående kartläggning. Studien var prospektiv och genomfördes på en medelstor svensk förlossningsavdelning. Det ovan beskrivna instrumentet användes för att granska barnmorskors dokumentation av medicinska och omvårdnadsmässiga ställningstaganden i 200 förlossningsjournaler. Resultatet består av data som beskrivs med deskriptiv statistik. Resultatet visade att barnmorskorna använde vårdinsatser inom samtliga av WHO: s kategorier och att WHO: s rekommendationer följdes delvis. Barnmorskorna gjorde riskbedömning av kvinnorna vid ankomsten till förlossningen men anpassade sedan bara delvis vården utifrån denna riskbedömning. Medicinska interventioner exempelvis CTG, farmakologisk smärtlindring och oxytocinstimulering var ofta dokumenterade trots att de flesta kvinnorna bedömts som lågrisk vid ankomst. Basal övervakning av kvinnans fysiska välbefinnande exempelvis puls, blodtryck och temp dokumenterades sporadiskt och omvårdnadsmässiga variabler som exempelvis stöd var bara dokumenterat i enstaka journaler. Jämfört med de tidigare mätningarna och i förhållande till WHO: s rekommendationer har ett antal variabler fortsatt att utvecklas i positiv riktning och några har återgått efter att ha förändrats under kvalitetsutvecklingsarbetet. Några variabler har försämrats efter att kvalitetsutvecklingsarbetet avslutades. / Childbirth and the delivery process have traditionally been evaluated using descriptive statistics to describe background factors and interventions. These evaluations have been used as an argument to liken care in normal birth with the care necessary for women with complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. WHO (1996) classified the practices common in the conduct of normal childbirth in to four categories. An audit instrument intended to measure midwifery care in relation to these four categories was found. The instrument had been used within a quality improvement program. The aim of the study was to describe documented intrapartal care in relation to WHO recommendations for care in normal birth, three years subsequent to the last auditing. The design was prospective and descriptive and the study was conducted in a middle sized Swed-ish maternity unit. The instrument was used to study midwifes´ documented care in 200 delivery records. The results of the study showed that the midwives uses care and interventions from WHO´s four categories and that the recommendations from WHO were only partly adhered to. Midwives conducted risk assessments of the women on admission to the mater-nity unit, but they did not adjust the care to the result of the risk assessments. Medical interventions such as electronic fetal monitoring, use of pharmacological pain relief and oxytocin augmentation were frequently documented in spite of the fact that 82 % of the women were considered lowrisk. Physiological items such as pulse, blood-pressure and temperature were sparingly documented and caring variables for example support were scantily documented. Comparisons with previos audits and the relation to WHO´s recom-mendations shows that some variables developed positively, some changed during the quality improvement program and has now reverted to the state previous from the program. Some of the variables deteriorated.