"Maybe black girls do yoga": A focus group study with predominantly low-income African-American women.

OBJECTIVE: To explore African American (AA) women's use of mind-body therapies, such as yoga and mindfulness, and factors that impact their experiences, observations and opinions. DESIGN: Focus groups were conducted to better understand how AA women perceive mind-body therapies and how to best bring these interventions into their community. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. SETTING: The urban Midwest. OUTCOME MEASURES: In addition to qualitative outcomes, descriptive measures included the Perceived Stressor Scale, Beliefs About Yoga Scale, and Determinants of Meditation Practice Inventory (DOMPI). RESULTS: Twenty-two, predominantly low-income (75% reported income <$50,000) and single (82%) women participated in three age stratified focus groups (18-34 years, 35-65 years, 66 years and older). Participants acknowledged life stress and shared common coping mechanisms. They recognized that yoga and mindfulness could be beneficial and discussed barriers to practice (including personal and structural). Younger women reported more time constraints as barriers, middle aged women had more experience with yoga, and older women identified the spiritual component to yoga/mindfulness as potentially conflicting with current coping strategies. Participants suggested ways to share mind-body therapies within the AA community along with solutions for engagement. CONCLUSIONS: AA women acknowledged stress in their lives and recognized the need for additional coping measures. Although women reported interest in yoga/mindfulness they identified barriers, including limited access to convenient classes, and offered suggestions for bringing yoga and mindfulness to their communities.

Gum chewing and gastrointestinal function following caesarean delivery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aims of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to summarise current knowledge regarding gum chewing intervention for activation of the gastrointestinal (GI) system following caesarean delivery. BACKGROUND: GI symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and defecatory difficulties are bothersome for women following a caesarean delivery. There is category A recommendation to not withhold oral intake postoperatively. However, current practice guidelines vary widely on time to initiate oral feeding post caesarean delivery, and additional research is needed. Gum chewing has been shown to stimulate the GI system in other postoperative patient populations. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: An electronic review was undertaken using the following resources: PubMed (Medline), CINAHL, EMBASE and ClinicalTrials.gov databases. Key words used in various combinations included cesarean section; cesarean delivery; postoperative chewing gum; bowel movement; bowel function and complications. RESULTS: A total of 171 articles were found of which 166 were excluded: 157 were duplicates and the remainder did not meet the inclusion criteria. Five randomised control trials were included in the meta-analysis, focusing on gum chewing as an intervention as compared with a nongum chewing intervention, with a total of 846 participants. Compared with the nongum chewing group, gum chewing showed a beneficial impact on the major outcomes of digestive system activation, including bowel sound, gas passage and defecation. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis supports the effectiveness of gum chewing post caesarean delivery as a noninvasive/nonpharmacological intervention for reactivation of bowel movement. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Gum chewing in the immediate postoperative period following caesarean delivery may provide a socially acceptable, low-cost and safe intervention to reduce postcaesarean delivery GI complications and restore GI function.

Risk of breastfeeding cessation among low-income women, infants, and children: a discrete time survival analysis.

BACKGROUND: Women who receive services from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) often stop breastfeeding earlier than recommended. Little is known about maternal background and intrapersonal variables that predict the timing of breastfeeding cessation over the 12-month postpartum period. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify the maternal background and intrapersonal predictors associated with the timing of breastfeeding cessation in WIC participants over the course of the 12-month postpartum period. METHOD: Existing longitudinal survey and administrative data from low-income breastfeeding WIC recipients (n = 309) were analyzed using discrete time survival analysis. Risk of breastfeeding cessation was the outcome, and self-reported items were used to derive predictor variables that corresponded to the background and intrapersonal variables of the Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior. RESULTS: Rates of breastfeeding were low (31% at 6 months and 6% at 12 months). In the best fitting discrete time survival analysis model, women who were older and of Mexican ethnicity, who had previous breastfeeding experience, and who had breastfeeding support from family or friends were at lowest risk for breastfeeding cessation at each monthly interval. DISCUSSION: Breastfeeding duration rates were lower than Healthy People 2020 benchmarks of 61% at 6 months and 34% at 12 months. Clinicians and researchers can use the findings from this study to develop interventions that are targeted to periods of greatest risk of premature breastfeeding cessation to prolong breastfeeding duration in this vulnerable population.