The Association Between Women’s Perceptions of Professional Support and Problems Experienced on Breastfeeding Cessation: A Western Australian Study

A cross-sectional survey was used to determine the association among women’s breastfeeding problems, their perceptions of support from midwives and child health nurses, and breastfeeding cessation in the first 10 weeks postbirth in a sample of Western Australian women (N = 2669). Primiparous women (75.8%) experienced significantly more problems that multiparous women (52.6%). Although 78.8% of all women agreed or strongly agreed that staff were helpful with feeding, 53.4% confirmed that different midwives offered different feeding advice; however, receiving different advice from midwives around feeding was not associated with breastfeeding cessation. Differences in breastfeeding cessation were associated with parity. Primiparous women’s cessation was associated with experiencing any breastfeeding problems, unhelpful hospital midwives, and unhelpful information from child health nurses, whereas for multiparous women, this included 2 or more breastfeeding problems, not being able to choose when to feed, and unhelpful information from child health nurses

RUB: brutal schön?

RUB: brutal schön? Ein Ausstellungsbuch Die Ruhr-Universität Bochum ist auch ein Stück Architekturgeschichte. Darauf machen hier Bochumer Studierende der Kunstwissenschaft aufmerksam, insbesondere auf die stilgeschichtliche Frage des Brutalismus. Neu in den Blick kommen dabei beispielsweise der Außenraum der Universität, aber auch Erfahrungen von Zeitzeugen aus der Gründungszeit. Die Publikation basiert auf einer Ausstellung im Herbst 2019, die als studentisches Projekt entstand. Hg. von Cornelia Jöchner, mit Grußworten von Axel Schölmerich, Erdmute Lapp, Constantin Goschle

Western Australian women's perceptions of the style and quality of midwifery postnatal care in hospital and at home

Summary. Aim and background: An important part of maternity service provision is the care provided by midwives in the immediate postpartum period. Evidence suggests that postpartum morbidity and its impact on women's health after childbirth is an area of genuine concern. In Western Australia there is limited information on women's postpartum health needs and/or the quality of midwifery care provided in hospital and at home. This paper describes Western Australian (WA) women's perceptions of midwifery care in the early postpartum period. Method: A cross-sectional, self report survey was used to describe the practical, emotional and informational support provided by midwives in the initial postpartum period. A questionnaire, specially designed for this population, was posted at 8 weeks postpartum to every woman with a registered live birth in WA between February and June 2006. Completed questionnaires were received from 2699 women. Datawere analysed using descriptive statistics, t-tests and chi-squared. Results: Results indicate that overall, women were happy with most aspects of midwifery carerelated to practical advice and assistance in relation to baby care and their immediate physical recovery. Areas that received a less positive rating were related to providing consistent advice, availability of the midwife, emotional care and information on maternal health needs, immunisation and contraception. In general, first time mothers rated both the style and quality of care more negatively than multiparous women. There was a trend by women accessing private hospital care to rank their care less favourably. There were minimal differences noted between women in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Midwifery care at home was rated very positively and significantly better than hospital care (p < 0.002).Conclusion: Although the majority of women in this study were satisfied with the components of physical care and information and assistance with infant feeding and sleep and settling provided in the short-term, there was less satisfaction with emotional care and preparation for life at home witha new baby. This study adds to our understandings of women's experiences of the early postnatal period and provides information on which to base improvements in postnatal care and maternityservices in WA and across Australia

Psychotherapy integration under scrutiny: investigating the impact of integrating emotion-focused components into a CBT-based approach: a study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND This currently recruiting randomized controlled trial investigates the effects of integrating components of Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) into Psychological Therapy (PT), an integrative form of cognitive-behavioral therapy in a manner that is directly mirroring common integrative practice in the sense of assimilative integration. Aims of the study are to understand how both, an existing therapy approach as well as the elements to be integrated, are affected by the integration and to clarify the role of emotional processing as a mediator of therapy outcome. METHODS A total of 130 adults with a diagnosed unipolar depressive, anxiety or adjustment disorder (seeking treatment at a psychotherapy outpatient clinic) are randomized to either treatment as usual (PT) with integrated emotion-focused components (TAU + EFT) or PT (TAU). Primary outcome variables are psychopathology and symptom severity at the end of therapy and at follow up; secondary outcome variables are interpersonal problems, psychological wellbeing, quality of life, attainment of individual therapy goals, and emotional competency. Furthermore, process variables such as the quality of the therapeutic relationship are studied as well as aptitude-treatment interactions. Variables are assessed at baseline, after 8 and 16 sessions, at the end of therapy, after 25 ± 3 sessions, and at 6, 12 and 36 month follow-up. Underlying mechanisms of change are investigated. Statistical analyses will be conducted using the appropriate multilevel approaches, mainly two-level regression and growth analysis. DISCUSSION The results of this study will indicate whether the integration of emotion-focused elements into treatment as usual increases the effectiveness of Psychological Therapy. If advantages are found, which may be limited to particular variables or subgroups of patients, recommendations for a systematic integration, and caveats if also disadvantages are detected, can be formulated. On a more abstract level, a cognitive behavioral (represented by PT) and humanistic/experiential (represented by EFT) approach will be integrated. It must be emphasized that mimicking common practice in the development and continued education of psychotherapists, EFT is not integrated as a whole, but only elements of EFT that are considered particularly important, and can be trained in an 8-day training plus supervision of therapies. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02822443 , 22 June 2016, retrospectively registered