Improving Underweight Mothers' Essential Newborn Care During Early Infancy: A Single-Blinded, Parallel-Randomized, Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of using a standardized Essential Newborn Care (ENC) module taught by pediatric residents on ENC skills and growth of offspring born to underweight primigravida mothers. STUDY DESIGN: This facility-based, single-blinded, parallel, randomized controlled trial was conducted between May 2018 and March 2019. Eighty-eight underweight primigravida mothers and their vaginally delivered offspring were blindly allocated into the intervention group (IG) or control group (CG). The IG mothers received education on ENC through pictorial aids, demonstrations, and practice sessions. All mothers received information from ongoing public health programs. A trained hospital nurse, blinded to the study, assessed the mothers' neonatal care skills on the second postnatal day. The infants were followed until 6 months. Weight, length, and head circumference were measured at birth and age 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks, and 6 months (±1 week). RESULTS: Mothers in the IG had significantly better ENC skills in all domains (P < .001). Their infants had a statistically significant increase in weight (at 10 and 14 weeks and 6 months), length (at 14 weeks and 6 months), and head circumference (at 6 months). Infants' z-scores indicated significant improvements in anthropometry in the IG compared with the CG. At age 6 months, the number of infants with weight <3rd percentile decreased in the IG (from 20 of 44 to 5 of 41) and increased in the CG (from 17 of 44 to 22 of 42) compared with birth percentiles. CONCLUSIONS: An educational intervention to strengthen maternal ENC knowledge and skills soon after delivery improved physical growth in infants born to underweight primigravida mothers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials Registry-India: CTRI/2018/04/013096.

Advancing nursing enterprises: A cross-country comparison.

BACKGROUND: Health system transformations in the United States are creating new opportunities for nursing innovation, although financial sustainability has limited the expansion of nurse managed clinics. PURPOSE: We explore case studies of nursing enterprises in the developing world and discuss their potential for informing related work in the United States. METHODS: Cases were selected from the Center for Health Market Innovations. DISCUSSION: We describe a professional association network of clinics in Tanzania, a social franchise in Kenya, and a cooperative in the Philippines. All programs empowered nurses to own, lead, and advance their professional influence. They had a social mission of improving access to care for disadvantaged populations, while increasing employment and autonomy of women. They also provided a shared platform for branding, purchasing, and quality assurance. CONCLUSION: Organization sponsors in these models may be relevant to different actors in the United States. Each demonstrates the importance of a collective approach to advancing nursing enterprises.

Women's Empowerment as a Protective Factor Against Intimate Partner Violence in Bangladesh: A Qualitative Exploration of the Process and Limitations of Its Influence.

Literature on the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) against women and women's empowerment is contradictory. Findings from a recent survey in rural Bangladesh suggest that empowerment is becoming protective even though IPV rates remain high. We construct qualitative case studies exploring factors and social processes underlying relationships between empowerment and IPV in four villages. Empowerment may be protective against IPV in the aggregate, but this relationship can be subverted at the micro level. Interventions are needed to reinforce the potential of empowerment to reduce IPV and counteract factors such as geographic isolation and limited employment opportunities that inhibit empowerment.

Empoderando mulheres nas relações conjugais: rumo à satisfação conjugal / Empowering women in marital relations: towards marital satisfaction

Este é um artigo de revisão de literatura onde é feito uma reflexão sobre as relações conjugais, primeiramente contextualizando as relações de gênero, num segundo momento trazendo a Teoria do Espaço Consciente, que explora como as mulheres são mantidas presas pelas normas culturais em barreiras sexistas. São encadeadas reflexões com a Psicologia feminista e o empoderamento das mulheres. A meta foi estabelecer relações entre a hierarquia de gênero com a manutenção da vulnerabilidade feminina presentes nas configurações conjugais, objetivando estimular terapeutas de casais a ajudarem na construção de relações conjugais mais igualitárias, já que estas caminham juntas com a satisfação conjugal, segundo os achados.(AU)

This is a literature review article where is make a reflection on marital relations, firstly contextualizing gender relations, secondly bringing the Theory of the Mindful Space, which says that women are held in spaces by cultural norms in sexist barriers. Then were made reflections with feminist psychology and women's empowerment. The aim was to establish links between gender hierarchies and the maintenance of female vulnerability present in conjugal settings, looking for encourage marital therapists to help to build more egalitarian marital relations, since those go together with marital satisfaction, accordingly the findings.(AU)