BACKGROUND Due to its potential impact on women's psychological health, assessing perceptions of their childbirth experience is important. The aim of this study was to develop a multidimensional self-reporting questionnaire to evaluate the childbirth experience. METHODS Factors influencing the childbirth experience were identified from a literature review and the results of a previous qualita...

BACKGROUND A woman's satisfaction with childbirth services can have a significant impact on her mental health and ability to bond with her neonate. Knowing postnatal women's opinions and satisfaction with services makes the services more women-friendly. Indian women's satisfaction with childbirth services has been explored qualitatively, or by using non-standard local questionnaires, but scient...

To refl ect its contemporary focus, Maternity Center Association recently changed its name to Childbirth Connection. Childbirth Connection continues the national not-for-profi t organization ’ s 88-year role as a voice for the needs and interests of childbearing families and focus on improving the quality of maternity care, by promoting evidencebased maternity care. This commentary summarizes r...

BACKGROUND Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is the leading cause of genital ulcer disease worldwide. The virus can be transmitted to neonates and there are scarce data regarding incidence of HSV-2 among women in pregnancy and after childbirth. The aim of this study is to measure the incidence and risk factors for HSV-2 infection in women followed for 9 months after childbirth. METHODS Preg...

BACKGROUND Most maternal deaths, intrapartum-related stillbirths, and newborn deaths in low income countries are preventable but simple, effective methods for improving safety in institutional births have not been devised. Checklist-based interventions aid management of complex or neglected tasks and have been shown to reduce harm in healthcare. We hypothesized that implementation of the WHO Sa...

The purpose of this literature review was to identify and describe recent empirical studies of childbirth education outcomes and to identify areas for further study. The search produced 63 studies; only 12 met the inclusion criteria. The literature demonstrated inconclusive evidence regarding the effectiveness of childbirth education. None of the studies used a theoretical framework that propos...

OBJECTIVES To examine the effectiveness of a birth ball exercise programme during childbirth by measuring childbirth self-efficacy and childbirth pain. In addition, it tested the mediating effects of childbirth self-efficacy on the relationship between the birth ball exercise programme and childbirth pain. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING The study was conducted ...