Instrument to evaluate the perception of abuse and/or disrespectful treatment during childbirth: A validation study.

AIM: To design and validate a tool to assess a woman's perception of whether she has experienced a situation of abuse or disrespect during childbirth attendance: "Childbirth Abuse and Respect Evaluation-Maternal Questionnaire" (CARE-MQ). METHODS: Multidisciplinary panel of experts (gynecologists, midwives, mothers) participated in creating CARE-MQ. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 901 Spanish women who had given birth between 1 and 3 months before to determine psychometric characteristics. Finally, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and a convergent validity study were carried out with the Quality Questionnaire from the Patient's Perspective-Intrapartum (QPP-I), and a reliability study using internal consistency (Cronbach's α) and coefficient of intraclass correlation (CCI). FINDINGS: The KMO test gave a value of 0.935, and Bartlett's sphericity test was <0.001. The EFA identified four components ("Emotional Abuse", "Inadequate Professionalism", "Physical Abuse" y "Lost contact") that explained 55.16 % of variance. In the CFA, a good fit was observed for most of the evaluated indicators. CARE-MQ correlated negatively with QPP-I (Spearman's rho = -0.641, 95 % CI: -0.679, -0.600; p < 0.001) and was statistically associated with variables related to childbirth experience (p < 0.005) such as the use of a birth plan, use of regional analgesia, type of birth, episiotomy, presence of severe tears, skin-to-skin contact, length of hospital stay and postpartum surgical intervention. Cronbach's α value was 0.903. The ICC of absolute agreement after administering the questionnaire one week after was 0.927 (95 % CI: 0.85-0.97). CONCLUSIONS: CARE-MQ is a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate the perception of a woman regarding the situation of abuse and/or disrespect that she may have experienced during birth in a population of Spanish postpartum women.

Perinatal factors related to post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms 1-5 years following birth.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between perinatal variables and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms was studied. However, the role of some variables in PTSD symptoms is unclear. AIM: Determine the prevalence of PTSD symptoms after 1 year postpartum and their relationship with perinatal variables. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 1531 puerperal women in Spain. Data were collected on socio-demographic variables, perinatal variables (maternal characteristics, procedures during labour and birth, birth outcomes and time since birth) and the newborn. An online questionnaire was used, which included the Perinatal Post-traumatic Stress Questionnaire (PPQ). Crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) were calculated using binary logistic regression. FINDINGS: 7.2% (110) of the women were identified as being at risk for probable PTSD symptoms. Protective factors were having a birth plan respected (aOR 0.44; 95%CI 0.19-0.99), use of epidural analgesia (aOR 0.44; 95%CI 0.24-0.80) and experiencing skin-to-skin contact (aOR 0.33; 95%CI 0.20-0.55). Risk factors were instrumental birth (aOR 3.32; 95%CI1.73-3.39), caesarean section (aOR 4.80; 95%CI 2.51-9.15), receiving fundal pressure (aOR 1.72; 95%CI 1.08-2.74) and suffering a third/fourth degree perineal tear (aOR 2.73; 95%CI 1.27-5.86). The area under the model's ROC curve was 0.82 (95%CI 0.79-0.83). CONCLUSIONS: Women who experience a normal birth, are psychologically prepared for birth (for example, through use of a birth plan), experience skin-to-skin contact with their newborn, and had a sense of physical control through the use of epidural analgesia, are less likely to experience childbirth as traumatic.

Relationship Between Prolonged Second Stage of Labor and Short-Term Neonatal Morbidity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

To evaluate the association between prolonged second stage of labor and the risk of adverse neonatal outcomes with a systematic review and meta-analysis. PubMed, Scopus and EMBASE were searched using the search strategy "Labor Stage, Second" AND (length OR duration OR prolonged OR abnormal OR excessive). Observational studies that examine the relationship between prolonged second stage of labor and neonatal outcomes were selected. Prolonged second stage of labor was defined as 4 h or more in nulliparous women and 3 h or more in multiparous women. The main neonatal outcomes were 5 min Apgar score <7, admission to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, neonatal sepsis and neonatal death. Data collection and quality assessment were carried out independently by the three reviewers. Twelve studies were selected including 266,479 women. In nulliparous women, a second stage duration greater than 4 h increased the risk of 5 min Apgar score <7, admission to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and neonatal sepsis and intubation. In multiparous women, a second stage of labor greater than 3 h was related to 5 min Apgar score <7, admission to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, meconium staining and composite neonatal morbidity. Prolonged second stage of labor increased the risk of 5 min Apgar score <7 and admission to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in nulliparous and multiparous women, without increasing the risk of neonatal death. This review demonstrates that prolonged second stage of labor increases the risk of neonatal complications in nulliparous and multiparous women.

Relationship between the Duration of the Second Stage of Labour and Neonatal Morbidity.

(1) Background: To assess the relationship between the duration of the second stage of labour and the neonatal morbidity risk; (2) Methods: An observational, analytical, retrospective cohort study was performed at the "Mancha-Centro" Hospital (Spain) during the 2013⁻2016 period. Data were collected from 3863 women who gave a vaginal birth. The studied neonatal morbidity variables were umbilical cord arterial pH, 5-min Apgar score, need for advanced neonatal resuscitation, and a composite neonatal morbidity variable on which the multivariate analysis was done. A univariate analysis was used for the potential risk factors and a multivariate analysis with binary logistic regression to control for possible confounding factors; (3) Results: The univariate analysis showed a statistically significant relationship between the duration of the second stage of labour and a high risk of advanced neonatal resuscitation and composite neonatal morbidity in multiparous women. However, after performing the multivariate analysis for the variable "composite neonatal morbidity", we observed no relationship with the duration of the second stage of labour in either nulliparous or multiparous women; (4) Conclusions: The duration of the second stage of labour was not related to an increased risk of neonatal morbidity in our study population.

Postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder: Associated perinatal factors and quality of life.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between obstetric variables and postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and its influence on quality of life (QoL), have scarcely been studied. OBJECTIVE: Determine the prevalence of PTSD at postpartum weeks 4 and 6, and its relation with perinatal variables and quality of life METHOD: A cross-sectional study with 2990 Spanish puerperal women in Spain. Data were collected on socio-demographic and obstetric variables, and on newborns. An online ad hoc questionnaire was used, including the Perinatal Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire (PPQ) and SF-36. The crude and adjusted odds ratios were estimated by binary logistic regression. RESULTS: 10.6% (318) of the women appeared at risk for PTSD symptoms. Factors like having a respected birth plan (aOR: 0.52; 95%CI: 0.34, 0.80), using epidural analgesia (aOR: 0.64; 95%CI: 0.44, 0.92) and performing skin-to-skin contact (aOR: 0.37; 95%CI: 0.28, 0.50) were protective factors against PTSD, among others. Instrumental birth (aOR: 2.50; 95%CI: 1.70, 3.69) and caesarean section (aOR: 3.79; 95%CI: 2.43, 5.92) were found to be risk factors, among others. The area under the ROC curve in this model was 0.79 (95%CI: 0.76, 0.81). The women with PTSD presented a mean difference for QoL of -13.37 points less than those without PTSD (95%CI: -11.08, -15.65). CONCLUSIONS: The women with PTSD symptoms had a worse quality of life at postpartum weeks 4-6. Birth type, analgesia methods and humanising practices, like skin-to-skin contact and using respected birth plans, were related with presence of the postpartum PTSD risk.

Relationship between duration of second stage of labour and postpartum anaemia.

AIM: To assess the relationship between the duration of the second stage of labour and postpartum anaemia during vaginal birth. METHODS: An observational, analytical retrospective cohort study was performed at the "Mancha-Centro Hospital" (Spain) during the 2013-2016 period. Data were collected from 3437 women who had a vaginal birth. Postpartum anaemia was defined as a haemoglobin level below 11g/dL at 24h postpartum. A univariate analysis was used for potential risk factors and a multivariate analysis with binary logistic regression to control for possible confounding factors. FINDINGS: The incidence of postpartum anaemia was 42.0%. The risk of postpartum anaemia did not increase in nulliparous women whose duration of the second stage of labour exceeded 4h. Compared with multiparous women who delivered between 0 and 3h, multiparous women with a duration of the second stage of labour beyond 3h were at higher risk of postpartum anaemia (OR=2.43 [1.30-4.52]). CONCLUSION: The duration of the second stage of labour beyond 4h is safe for postpartum anaemia in nulliparous women. However in multiparous women, monitoring should increase if the second stage of labour exceeds 3h given the increased risk of postpartum anaemia.

The Need for School Nursing in Spain: A Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Teachers are not trained or feel prepared for urgent action. Nevertheless, the presence of children with health problems is relevant. We identified vital health risk problems and complications among students, as well as the related training and perception of teachers. Methods: An explanatory sequential design was employed. The study sample consisted of a cross-sectional study of an intentional nonprobabilistic sample of 3246 teachers in the quantitative phase, and a total of 16 semistructured interviews were conducted in its qualitative phase. Results: 56.6% (1837) of teachers show high concern about facing such situations and only 0.6% (19) feel appropriately trained. For 81.8% (2556), the existence of school nursing would be quite relevant. The presence of nursing professionals in schools could lead to an improvement in the quality of life of both the students and teachers. Conclusions: There is a significant percentage of children with diseases that often require specific care and there is a high probability that teachers, throughout their professional lives, have to deal with situations of vital urgency. The presence of professionals in educational centres seems to be a relevant option. These data suggest that it is necessary for nurses to establish a pilot programme for the incorporation of professional nurses in educational centres to determine its implications, benefits in health prevention and promotion issues, as well as costs.