Evaluation of an Australian Aboriginal model of maternity care: The Malabar Community Midwifery Link Service.

BACKGROUND: The urban-based Malabar Community Midwifery Link Service integrates multidisciplinary wrap-around services along-side continuity of midwifery care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies. AIM: To evaluate the Malabar Service from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2014. METHODS: A mixed method design. Outcomes for mothers of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander babies cared for at an urban Australian referral hospital by the Malabar Service were compared to mainstream. Primary outcomes are rates of low birth weight; smoking >20 weeks gestation; preterm birth; and breastfeeding at discharge. Malabar outcomes are also compared to national and state perinatal outcomes. RESULTS: The Malabar Service (n = 505) demonstrated similar rates of preterm birth (aOR 2.2, 95% CI 0.96-4.97); breastfeeding at discharge (aOR 1.1, 95% CI 0.61-1.86); and a higher rate of low birth weight babies (aOR 3.6, 95% CI 1.02-12.9) than the comparison group (n = 201). There was a 25% reduction in smoking rates from 38.9% to 29.1%. Compared to national and state populations, Malabar outcomes were better. Women experienced greater psychosocial complexity but were well supported. Malabar Mothers (n = 9) experienced: accessibility, preparedness for birth and cultural safety. Staff (n = 13) identified going 'above and beyond' and teamwork to provide culturally safe care counterbalanced with concerns around funding and cultural support. CONCLUSIONS: Dedicated integrated continuity of midwifery care with wrap-around services for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander mothers is highly valued and is culturally safe. The service is as safe as main stream services and promotes better clinical outcomes compared to national and state outcomes.

'Partnerships are crucial': an evaluation of the Aboriginal Family Birthing Program in South Australia.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate implementation and outcomes of the Aboriginal Family Birthing Program (AFBP), which provides culturally competent antenatal, intrapartum and early postnatal care for Aboriginal families across South Australia (SA). METHODS: Analysis of births to Aboriginal women in SA 2010-2012; interviews with health professionals and AFBP clients. RESULTS: Around a third of all Aboriginal women giving birth in SA 2010-2012 (n=486) attended AFBP services. AFBP women were more likely to be more socially disadvantaged, have poorer pregnancy health and to have inadequate numbers of antenatal visits than Aboriginal women attending other services. Even with greater social disadvantage and higher clinical complexity, pregnancy outcomes were similar for AFBP and other Aboriginal women. Interviews with 107 health professionals (including 20 Aboriginal Maternal and Infant Care (AMIC) workers) indicated differing levels of commitment to the model, with some lack of clarity about AMIC workers and midwives roles. Interviews with 20 AFBP clients showed they highly valued care from another Aboriginal woman. CONCLUSIONS: Despite challenges, the AFBP reaches out to women with the greatest need, providing culturally appropriate, effective care through partnerships. Implications for Public Health: Programs like the AFBP need to be expanded and supported to improve maternal and child health outcomes for Aboriginal families.

Reproductive health in indigenous Chihuahua: giving birth 'alone like the goat'.

INTRODUCTION: Indigenous peoples in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, are known to outsiders as the Tarahumaras. The Tarahumaras are one of the few cultural groups known to have no traditional birth attendants, and Tarahumara women often give birth alone and outdoors. Currently, little is known about this group, their health status or their culture. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the state of reproductive health outcomes, risks, protective factors, beliefs and behaviors in the Tarahumara population. DESIGN: This paper reports on the qualitative results of a mixed methods study, comprised of focus groups, interviews, participatory exploratory methods, ethnographic observation and household surveys investigating the reproductive health status of the Tarahumara peoples and contextual factors influencing it. Qualitative data is presented, supported by preliminary quantitative findings. RESULTS: This study supports speculation that the Tarahumara population is burdened by severe maternal health problems. The sample size was too small to definitively assess risk factors for the outcome of maternal mortality, but qualitative findings point to some important contextual issues that contribute to participants' perceptions of susceptibility to and severity of the problem, their reproductive health beliefs and behaviors, and barriers to behavior change. Major issues included disparities in biomedical knowledge, trust between non-indigenous providers and indigenous patients, and structural issues including access to medical facilities and infrastructure. CONCLUSION: Qualitative data is drawn upon to make recommendations and identify lessons applicable to similar situations where cultural minorities suffer serious health inequities. This study underscores the importance of needs and assets assessment, as it reveals unique contextual factors that must be taken into account in intervention design. Also, collaborative partnership with community members and leaders proved to be invaluable in the research, warranting further collaboration by both governmental and non-governmental groups attempting to improve the health of this population. This becomes especially important when making and enforcing health policy.

Childbirth traditions and cultural perceptions of safety in Nepal: critical spaces to ensure the survival of mothers and newborns in remote mountain villages.

OBJECTIVE: to uncover local beliefs regarding pregnancy and birth in remote mountainous villages of Nepal in order to understand the factors which impact on women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth and the related interplay of tradition, spiritual beliefs, risk and safety which impact on those experiences. DESIGN: this study used a qualitative methodological approach with in-depth interviews framework within social constructionist and feminist critical theories. SETTING: the setting comprised two remote Nepalese mountain villages where women have high rates of illiteracy, poverty, disadvantage, maternal and newborn mortality, and low life expectancy. Interviews were conducted between February and June, 2010. PARTICIPANTS: twenty five pregnant/postnatal women, five husbands, five mothers-in-law, one father-in-law, five service providers and five community stakeholders from the local communities were involved. FINDINGS: Nepalese women, their families and most of their community strongly value their childbirth traditions and associated spiritual beliefs and they profoundly shape women's views of safety and risk during pregnancy and childbirth, influencing how birth and new motherhood fit into daily life. These intense culturally-based views of childbirth safety and risk conflict starkly with the medical view of childbirth safety and risk. KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: if maternity services are to improve maternal and neonatal survival rates in Nepal, maternity care providers must genuinely partner with local women inclusive of their cultural beliefs, and provide locally based primary maternity care. Women will then be more likely to attend maternity care services, and benefit from feeling culturally safe and culturally respected within their spiritual traditions of birth supported by the reduction of risk provided by informed and reverent medicalised care.

Migration and maternity: insights of context, health policy, and research evidence on experiences and outcomes from a three country preliminary study across Germany, Canada, and the United kingdom.

A group from Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom undertook country-specific scoping reviews and stakeholder consultations before joining to holistically compare migration and maternity in all three countries. We examined four interlinking dimensions to understand how international migrant/minority maternal health might be improved upon using transnational research: (a) wider sociopolitical context, (b) health policy arena, (c) constellation, outcomes, and experiences of maternity services, and (d) existing research contexts. There was clear evidence that the constellation and delivery of services may undermine good experiences and outcomes. Interventions to improve access and quality of care remain small scale, short term, and lacking in rigorous evaluation.

Perceptions and experiences of parenthood and maternal health care among Latin American women living in Spain: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE: to explore the experiences and perceptions of parenthood and maternal health care among Latin American women living in Spain. DESIGN: an exploratory qualitative research using focus groups and thematic analysis of the discussion. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: three focus groups with 26 women from Bolivia and Ecuador and three focus groups with 24 midwives were performed in three towns in the Valencian Community receiving a large influx of immigrants. FINDINGS: the women interpreted motherhood as the role through which they achieve fulfilment and assumed that they were the ones who could best take care of their children. They perceived that men usually make decisions about sex and pregnancy and recognised a poor or inadequate use of contraceptive methods in planning their pregnancies. Women reported that it was not necessary to go as soon and as frequently for health examinations during pregnancy as the midwives suggested. The main barriers identified to health-care services were linked to insecure or illegal employment status, inflexible appointment timetables for prenatal checkups and sometimes to ignorance about how public services worked. KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: empowering immigrant women is essential to having a long-term positive effect on their reproductive health. Antenatal care providers should be trained to build maternity care that is culturally sensitive and responds better to the health needs of different pregnant women and their newborns.

Cambodian migrant women's postpartum experiences in Victoria, Australia.

OBJECTIVE: to explore the postpartum experiences of Cambodian born migrant women who gave birth for the first time in Victoria, Australia between 2000 and 2010. DESIGN: an ethnographic study with 35 women using semi-structured and unstructured interviews and participant observation; this paper draws on interviews with 20 women who fit the criteria of first time mothers who gave birth in an Australian public hospital. SETTING: the City of Greater Dandenong, Victoria Australia. PARTICIPANTS: twenty Cambodian born migrant women aged 23-30 years who gave birth for the first time in a public hospital in Victoria, Australia. FINDINGS: after one or two home visits by midwives in the first 10 day postpartum women did not see a health professional until 4-6 weeks postpartum when they presented to the MCH centre. Women were home alone, experienced loneliness and anxiety and struggled with breast feeding and infant care while they attempted to follow traditional Khmer postpartum practices. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: results of this study indicate that Cambodian migrant women who are first time mothers in a new country with no female kin support in the postpartum period experience significant emotional stress, loneliness and social isolation and are at risk of developing postnatal depression. These women would benefit from the introduction of a midwife-led model of care, from antenatal through to postpartum, where midwives provide high-intensity home visits, supported by interpreters, and when required refer women to professionals and community services such as Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies (Victoria Department of Health, 2011) for up to 6 weeks postpartum.

Maternal micronutrient status and preterm versus term birth for black and white US women.

OBJECTIVE: Micronutrient deficiencies are hypothesized to play a role in spontaneous preterm birth (PTB; <37 weeks of gestation) and possibly the racial disparity in rates of PTB between black and white women. Yet relatively few studies have addressed the role of micronutrient deficiencies in spontaneous PTB among black and white women in the United States. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OH-D), folate, and omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid status are associated with spontaneous PTB among black and white women in the United States. METHODS: Biospecimens and medical record data for this study were derived from a subsample of the 1547 women enrolled into the Nashville Birth Cohort during 2003-2006. We randomly selected 80 nulliparous and primiparous women for whom stored plasma samples from the delivery admission were available and analyzed the stored plasma for 25-OH-D, folate, and total omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids. We used multivariate logistic regression to assess the odds of spontaneous PTB among women with 25-OH-D <20 ng/mL, folate <5 ug/L, and omega-6/omega-3 >15. RESULTS: An omega-6/omega-3 ratio >15 was significantly associated with spontaneous PTB for white (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.25-14.49) but not black women (aOR 1.90, 95% CI: 0.69-5.40), whereas no significant relationships were observed for folate and 25-OH-D status and PTB for black or white women. CONCLUSION: Maternal plasma total omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio >15 at delivery was significantly associated with spontaneous PTB for white, but not black, women.

Improvement of maternal Aboriginality in NSW birth data.

BACKGROUND: The Indigenous population of Australia was estimated as 2.5% and under-reported. The aim of this study is to improve statistical ascertainment of Aboriginal women giving birth in New South Wales. METHODS: This study was based on linked birth data from the Midwives Data Collection (MDC) and the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) of New South Wales (NSW). Data linkage was performed by the Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) for births in NSW for the period January 2001 to December 2005. The accuracy of maternal Aboriginal status in the MDC and RBDM was assessed by consistency, sensitivity and specificity. A new statistical variable, ASV, or Aboriginal Statistical Variable, was constructed based on Indigenous identification in both datasets. The ASV was assessed by comparing numbers and percentages of births to Aboriginal mothers with the estimates by capture-recapture analysis. RESULTS: Maternal Aboriginal status was under-ascertained in both the MDC and RBDM. The ASV significantly increased ascertainment of Aboriginal women giving birth and decreased the number of missing cases. The proportion of births to Aboriginal mothers in the non-registered birth group was significantly higher than in the registered group. CONCLUSIONS: Linking birth data collections is a feasible method to improve the statistical ascertainment of Aboriginal women giving birth in NSW. This has ramifications for the ascertainment of babies of Aboriginal mothers and the targeting of appropriate services in pregnancy and early childhood.

Maternal health and knowledge and infant health outcomes in the Ariaal people of northern Kenya.

There is a strong link between maternal knowledge and child well-being in many populations worldwide. Fewer studies have investigated the links between indigenous systems of medical knowledge and infant outcomes in non-Western societies, such as the Ariaal people of northern Kenya. This study has four goals. First, it defines culture-specific domains of health knowledge in Ariaal mothers using the cultural consensus method, a statistical model that measures knowledge shared by a set of informants. Second, it identifies factors that predict maternal health knowledge. Third, it investigates associations between maternal health knowledge and treatment-seeking behaviors. Finally, it associates health knowledge with biomarkers of infant health. Data collection took place in two separate periods. The first data collection period (October-November 2007) enrolled 41 women to participate in an open-ended interview or true-false consensus questionnaire. The second data collection period (November 2008-January 2009) used information from the cultural consensus analysis to assess how health knowledge impacted infant health outcomes and treatment. Women and infants in this data collection period (n = 251 pairs) underwent anthropometric measurement and participated in a questionnaire that included traditional medicine consensus questions. Data were analyzed using the cultural consensus capabilities in ANTHROPAC 4.98; univariate and multivariate statistics were performed in SAS 9.2. This study found consensus in the domains of infant illness, traditional medicine, Western medicine, and treatment decision-making. Proximity to a medical dispensary and use of public health infrastructure significantly predicted higher levels of maternal health knowledge. Mothers' knowledge of traditional medicine was positively associated with treating infants at a dispensary versus at home. Finally, women with greater knowledge of traditional medicine had infants who were significantly less likely to have been ill in the previous month. These results highlight the importance of both traditional and Western health knowledge for Ariaal mothers and infants.

Contributions and challenges of cross-national comparative research in migration, ethnicity and health: insights from a preliminary study of maternal health in Germany, Canada and the UK.

BACKGROUND: Public health researchers are increasingly encouraged to establish international collaborations and to undertake cross-national comparative studies. To-date relatively few such studies have addressed migration, ethnicity and health, but their number is growing. While it is clear that divergent approaches to such comparative research are emerging, public health researchers have not so far given considered attention to the opportunities and challenges presented by such work. This paper contributes to this debate by drawing on the experience of a recent study focused on maternal health in Canada, Germany and the UK. DISCUSSION: The paper highlights various ways in which cross-national comparative research can potentially enhance the rigour and utility of research into migration, ethnicity and health, including by: forcing researchers to engage in both ideological and methodological critical reflexivity; raising awareness of the socially and historically embedded nature of concepts, methods and generated 'knowledge'; increasing appreciation of the need to situate analyses of health within the wider socio-political setting; helping researchers (and research users) to see familiar issues from new perspectives and find innovative solutions; encouraging researchers to move beyond fixed 'groups' and 'categories' to look at processes of identification, inclusion and exclusion; promoting a multi-level analysis of local, national and global influences on migrant/minority health; and enabling conceptual and methodological development through the exchange of ideas and experience between diverse research teams. At the same time, the paper alerts researchers to potential downsides, including: significant challenges to developing conceptual frameworks that are meaningful across contexts; a tendency to reify concepts and essentialise migrant/minority 'groups' in an effort to harmonize across countries; a danger that analyses are superficial, being restricted to independent country descriptions rather than generating integrated insights; difficulties of balancing the need for meaningful findings at country level and more holistic products; and increased logistical complexity and costs. SUMMARY: In view of these pros and cons, the paper encourages researchers to reflect more on the rationale for, feasibility and likely contribution of proposed cross-national comparative research that engages with migration, ethnicity and health and suggests some principles that could support such reflection.

Beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of pregnant women in Bali.

OBJECTIVE: To explore beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of pregnant women in Bali, Indonesia. DESIGN: Descriptive qualitative study using in-depth interviews. SETTING: Community health-care centre in South Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. PARTICIPANTS: 18 Pregnant women aged 20-35 years. FINDINGS: Insights into beliefs and attitudes regarding pregnancy emerged from the analysis. Participants believed that some foods should or should not be eaten by pregnant women. They believed that vegetables are better than meat during pregnancy. Strong beliefs about traditional herbal remedies also emerged. Complex beliefs on locus of control were also expressed by the majority of the respondents regarding who was responsible for the health and well-being of their infant. Women maintained that they themselves, health-care professionals, nature and God were all responsible for the health of their infant. In addition, some respondents acknowledged the crucial role of the family for support and advice during pregnancy. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Interventions to improve the quality of antenatal care and pregnancy outcomes in Indonesia should consider these beliefs and attitudes. Counselling by health-care workers, for example, might explicitly seek women's complex beliefs on locus of control, and views on preferences for traditional remedies and food, especially low meat intake. Involvement of husbands and other family members during pregnancy and birth should also be encouraged and re-inforced by health promotion programmes. Community and religious leaders should be engaged to support key messages.

'Closing the Gap': how maternity services can contribute to reducing poor maternal infant health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

CONTEXT: The reproductive health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and infants are significantly poorer than they are for other Australians; they worsen with increasing remoteness where the provision of services becomes more challenging. Australia has committed to 'Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage' and 'Closing the Gap' in health outcomes. ISSUES: Fifty-five per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander birthing women live in outer regional and remote areas and suffer some of the worst health outcomes in the country. Not all of these women are receiving care from a skilled provider, antenatally, in birth or postnatally while the role of midwives in reducing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity is under-utilised. The practice of relocating women for birth does not address their cultural needs or self-identified risks and is contributing to these outcomes. An evidence based approach for the provision of maternity services in these areas is required. Australian maternal mortality data collection, analysis and reporting is currently insufficient to measure progress yet it should be used as an indicator for 'Closing the Gap' in Australia. LESSONS LEARNED: A more intensive, coordinated strategy to improve maternal infant health in rural and remote Australia must be adopted. Care needs to address social, emotional and cultural health needs, and be as close to home as possible. The role of midwives can be enabled to provide comprehensive, quality care within a collaborative team that includes women, community and medical colleagues. Service provision should be reorganised to match activity to need through the provision of caseload midwives and midwifery group practices across the country. Funding to embed student midwives and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in this role must be realised. An evidence base must be developed to inform the provision of services in these areas; this could be through the testing of the Rural Birth Index in Australia. The provision of primary birthing services in remote areas, as has occurred in some Inuit and New Zealand settings, should be established. 'Birthing on Country' that incorporates local knowledge, on-site midwifery training and a research and evaluation framework, must be supported.

Indigenous health part 1: determinants and disease patterns.

The world's almost 400 million Indigenous people have low standards of health. This poor health is associated with poverty, malnutrition, overcrowding, poor hygiene, environmental contamination, and prevalent infections. Inadequate clinical care and health promotion, and poor disease prevention services aggravate this situation. Some Indigenous groups, as they move from traditional to transitional and modern lifestyles, are rapidly acquiring lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes, and physical, social, and mental disorders linked to misuse of alcohol and of other drugs. Correction of these inequities needs increased awareness, political commitment, and recognition rather than governmental denial and neglect of these serious and complex problems. Indigenous people should be encouraged, trained, and enabled to become increasingly involved in overcoming these challenges.