Experiences Of Postpartum Women Research Articles

Exploring Perceptions of Cesarean Sections among Postpartum Women in Nigeria: A Qualitative Study

Cesarean sections have become increasingly common globally, including in Nigeria. This qualitative study explores the perceptions and experiences of postpartum women who underwent cesarean sections within the distinct contexts of Ibadan in Oyo State, Nigeria. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 24 postpartum women in selected health facilities in urban and rural areas. A diverse sample was purposively selected to capture a range of experiences based on age, residence, education, and cultural backgrounds. Thematic analysis was employed to identify patterns and themes within the data. The findings revealed diverse emotional responses among participants, ranging from relief and gratitude to disappointment and feelings of loss for not experiencing a vaginal birth. Societal pressures and cultural expectations played a significant role in influencing women’s perceptions and experiences of cesarean sections. Future childbirth preferences and support systems, including healthcare provider–patient relationships and community support, were identified as crucial factors impacting postoperative recovery. This study contributes to the understanding of women’s perceptions of cesarean sections within the local context of Ibadan, Nigeria. The findings underscore the importance of culturally sensitive healthcare practices, clear communication, and support systems to enhance the birthing experiences of women undergoing cesarean sections.

The Media as a Source of Weight Stigma for Pregnant and Postpartum Women.

The media often contain weight-stigmatizing material. However, little is known about pregnant and postpartum women's experiences with media-based weight stigma. Two studies investigated weight stigma in the media from multiple perspectives. Study 1 analyzed open-response examples of weight-stigmatizing experiences coming from the media, broadly defined, from 123 pregnant and postpartum women (from a larger sample of 501). Study 2 identified online news-media articles about pregnancy and weight published during the study 1 data collection period (August to November 2017). Study 1 revealed that weight stigma was common and frequent in media, manifesting across three themes: (1) ideal appearance of pregnant bodies, (2) pressure to quickly "bounce back" after birth to a prepregnancy appearance, and (3) media praising celebrities for achieving either of the previous themes. Study 2 identified 33 articles. A content analysis revealed that women with overweight or obesity were rarely portrayed in images. Additionally, discussion of weight was often negative, focusing on adverse maternal-child health consequences. Finally, media-communicated ideals for weight and weight loss were often unrealistic and did not reference medical guidelines. This work is the first to document that online news media are a pervasive and potentially distressing source of pregnancy-related weight stigma, suggesting much-needed reform in media guidelines.

Developing a tool for measuring postpartum women's experiences of respectful maternity care at a tertiary hospital in Kumasi, Ghana

The authors of this paper are involved in a 5 years respectful maternity care (RMC) project at a tertiary healthcare facility in Kumasi, Ghana that seeks to change the culture of disrespect and abuse in maternity care practice, with a sub-objective of determining its impact on how midwives provide quality maternity care services in this healthcare facility. To achieve this objective, respectful maternity care must be conceptualized and measured. Our literature search revealed that a Ghanaian version tool that measures women's experiences of respectful maternity care is non-existent. Thus, this study aims to construct a scale that measures childbearing women's experiences of respectful maternity care during childbirth and the immediate postpartum period in the study setting. We surveyed 263 postpartum women with a draft scale we have developed. This scale had 42 questions that sought to measure postpartum women's experiences of respectful maternity care in a tertiary health facility in Kumasi. The scale development went through processes of exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and inter-item reliability tests. The EFA was done using SPSS-21. Through series of EFA, we have created a 23 items RMC scale (23i-RMC) with three main factors labelled as follows: Verbal abuse-free, Discriminatory-free and Dignified care (VADDC), Physical and Psychological Abuse-free care (PPAC), and Compassionate Care (CC). The Cronbach's Alpha of the 23i-RMC is 0.945 and those of the individual domains greater than the 0.70 minimum threshold, suggesting that there is greater reliability among the items in the scale and the subscales. This 23i-RMC scale is useful for assessing postpartum women's experiences of RMC in the study setting. We recommend the use and validation of the newly developed respectful maternity care scale in other healthcare facilities in Ghana.

Differences in help-seeking behaviours and perceived helpfulness of services between abused and non-abused women: A cross-sectional survey of Australian postpartum women.

New mothers may face substantial physical and mental health challenges during the postpartum period and are at a greater risk of intimate partner violence. Healthcare services provide support, however, acknowledging a problem and seeking help for it can be difficult. Research on where postpartum women seek help and how helpful they perceive it is limited. Additionally, little is known of how these help-seeking behaviours differ between abused and non-abused postpartum women. The aim of this study was to examine the help-seeking behaviour and perceived helpfulness of services in abused and non-abused postpartum women. Secondary analysis was undertaken of data collected during the MOVE (Improving Maternal and Child Health Care for Vulnerable Mothers) cluster randomised controlled trial of a nurse, intimate partner violence screening and supportive care intervention. MOVE was set in eight community-based nurse teams in Melbourne, Australia. The trial (2010-2013) included a survey of n=2,621 postpartum Australian women who had given birth within the previous 8months. Data were analysed using descriptive and interferential statistics. Findings indicate that abused women who had experienced partner violence sought informal family support less frequently (81.3% compared with 92.4%, p<.001) and were more frequent users of hospital emergency departments (p=.03), nurse home visiting programs (p=.02) and some breastfeeding services (p=.001), compared with non-abused women. They were also more frequent users of psychiatrists (p≤0.001), early parenting centres (both day stay (p=.006) and residential (p=.008), child welfare services (p<.001), and were generally less satisfied with the help received. Postpartum women experiencing partner violence seek help from certain formal services more frequently and are less satisfied with the care received, compared with non-abused women. Access to potential protective supports from family and friends is limited. Further qualitative research is needed to gain a greater understanding of abused postpartum women's experiences and help-seeking behaviours.

Experiences of Postpartum Women after Mindfulness Childbirth Classes: A Qualitative Study.

The postpartum period can be a challenging experience for many women as they adjust to the physical and social changes after childbirth. Mindfulness-based interventions have been developed for stress reduction in a variety of health contexts, including pregnancy. These interventions provide strategies that may help new mothers handle the physical, emotional, and relationship challenges of the postpartum period and increase acceptance of postpartum physical changes and body image. Limited research has explored whether women use skills learned in prenatal mindfulness classes for the postpartum experience and parenting. The purpose of this study was to explore women's experience with mindfulness in the year after childbirth. Twelve women who participated in a Mindfulness for Childbirth and Parenting course during pregnancy were interviewed between 2 and 16 months postpartum. The semistructured interview guide included questions on how participants may have used mindfulness to approach a variety of positive and negative postpartum experiences. Qualitative description methodology guided the research team to code the transcripts independently. The team met to review and achieve consensus in the development of codes, categories, and themes from the data. Four themes were identified in women's postpartum experiences: 1) developing a new relationship with postpartum challenges, 2) formal practices of mindfulness to address postpartum challenges, 3) informal practices to address postpartum challenges, and 4) life-changing and transformative experiences. These themes showed a pathway by which participants used mindfulness skills to address postpartum challenges and to transform these challenges with a positive perspective. Mindfulness skills helped class participants cope with physical and emotional challenges postpartum and fostered positive meaningful relationships with partners and newborns. Findings have implications for future research on mindfulness-based interventions and the postpartum experience.

Experiences of Postpartum Women in One Residential Treatment Facility for Substance Use Disorders: A Qualitative Case Study

A growing opioid crisis in the United States has sparked a need for gender-specific research and treatment to address unmet needs and promote positive health outcomes for both women and children. The primary purpose of this research is to provide insight into the experiences and perceptions of postpartum women with substance use disorders receiving care at one residential treatment facility. Two women, aged 22 and 27 years old, participated in semi-structured interviews designed to elicit perceptions about barriers to treatment, the value of various programs, the role of physical, social, and temporal contexts in treatment, and beliefs about the effect of treatment on quality of life. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a-priori coding with codes derived from the Social Stress Model of Substance Abuse. The pilot findings suggest that for these women separation from children during treatment is experienced as a major stressor, communication, counseling, and program staff and peer resources helps to offset this stress. The descriptive - level findings could provide insight to occupational therapy practitioners and other providers about women in substance abuse recovery and their perceptions of the value of programmatic interventions, meaning of their occupational deficits, and significance of occupational therapy as treatment to address these deficits.

Experiences and needs of women who were discharged early after birth in selected settings in Botswana

Background: Hospital stays for women following birth have increasingly become shorter in the past 50 years worldwide ( Cargill and Martel, 2007 ). The length of hospital stay after childbirth has been reduced to less than 24 hours in many cases, but postpartum women may need the support of health-care providers at home. Aims: This study aimed to explore the experiences of postpartum women after early discharge, in order to improve postpartum services. Methods: A cross-sectional survey explored the experiences of postpartum women after early discharge. One hundred and ten (110) women with normal births were selected through purposive sampling during 6-week postnatal visits at clinics in Francistown, Botswana. Ethical considerations were observed. Data were analysed using SPSS and presented in frequency distributions. Findings: The majority of women (n = 70, 63.6%) preferred to be discharged home within 6–24 hours; 16 (44%) primiparous women were ready for hospital discharge despite having difficulty dealing with perineal sutures and childcare. Multiparous women (n = 54, 72.9%) preferred early hospital discharge. Conclusions: Women need information about self-care and baby care, and a visit within 3–7 days at home. A standard protocol for postpartum follow-up care is needed.

Pregnant and Postpartum Women's Experiences and Perspectives on the Acceptability and Feasibility of Copackaged Medicine for Antenatal Care and PMTCT in Lesotho.

Objective. To improve PMTCT and antenatal care-related service delivery, a pack with centrally prepackaged medicine was rolled out to all pregnant women in Lesotho in 2011. This study assessed acceptability and feasibility of this copackaging mechanism for drug delivery among pregnant and postpartum women. Methods. Acceptability and feasibility were assessed in a mixed method, cross-sectional study through structured interviews (SI) and semistructured interviews (SSI) conducted in 2012 and 2013. Results. 290 HIV-negative women and 437 HIV-positive women (n = 727) participated. Nearly all SI participants found prepackaged medicines acceptable, though modifications such as size reduction of the pack were suggested. Positive experiences included that the pack helped women take pills as instructed and contents promoted healthy pregnancies. Negative experiences included inadvertent pregnancy disclosure and discomfort carrying the pack in communities. Implementation was also feasible; 85.2% of SI participants reported adequate counseling time, though 37.8% felt pack use caused clinic delays. SSI participants reported improvement in service quality following pack introduction, due to more comprehensive counseling. Conclusions. A prepackaged drug delivery mechanism for ANC/PMTCT medicines was acceptable and feasible. Findings support continued use of this approach in Lesotho with improved design modifications to reflect the current PMTCT program of lifelong treatment for all HIV-positive pregnant women.

Women's Explanations for Urinary Incontinence, Their Management Strategies, and Their Quality of Life During the Postpartum Period

Although pregnancy is a risk factor for urinary incontinence (UI), minimal information is available to help clinicians understand postpartum women's experiences of UI. Our aim was to explore postnatal women's explanations for UI, strategies for managing and dealing with UI, rationale for not doing anything about UI, and its influence on their quality of life. Cross-sectional survey. The participants were 75 women who had given birth to live children at Viborg Hospital in Denmark during a 3-month period from November 2002 to January 2003 and who had experienced UI since giving birth. UI questionnaires were mailed to women who had given birth at Viborg Hospital during a 3-month period. The questionnaire included the Urogenital Distress Inventory, the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire, and the General Continence Questionnaire. A follow-up letter was sent to potential participants 2 weeks after the initial mailing. The most frequently reported lower urinary tract symptoms were small amounts of urine leakage (59%) and leakage related to physical activity, coughing, or sneezing (55%). Half the women reporting these symptoms indicated that they were moderately or greatly bothered by them. Living with UI affected the willingness of some women to go to places where they were unsure about the availability of toilets (27%), as well as the way in which they dressed (31%). Some women reported diminished ability to have sexual relations (23%) and reduced involvement in physical and recreational activities (23%). UI was associated with feelings of frustration (25%) and embarrassment (25%). Most participants (76%) perceived that they had become incontinent due to weakened pelvic floor muscles and because they had not performed sufficient pelvic floor muscle exercises. The most common management strategies for UI were more frequent toileting (64%) and pad use (56%). Some women (24%) reported that they had done nothing about their UI. Given the profound impact UI usually exerts on the lives of postpartum women and the common use of ineffective management strategies, healthcare clinicians need to actively screen for and treat this condition.