Exploring social and health care representations about home birth: an integrative literature review

Aims: exploring social and health care representations of home birth by conducting an integrative review of the literature. Design: Integrative Literature Review. Data sources: the search was based on the following keywords: 'birth, home,' 'home birth,' 'childbirth, home.' And the terms: 'planned home birth,' and 'empowerment women homebirth' (in English). 'partos en casa,' and 'partos domiciliarios' (in Spanish) in the following databases: Biomedical Central, Cochrane Library, Dialnet, DOAJ, Lilacs, PubMed, Scopus, Scielo, and Web of Science. Review methods: a total of 156 publications dated between 2004 and 2017 were initially obtained and a total of 41 articles were finally selected according to the criteria of inclusion, methodological rigor, and researchers' triangulation. Results: four dimensions of the issue emerged out of the 41 articles analyzed: (a) the Dimension of 'Empowerment in Childbirth;' (b) the Dimension of 'Comparative Socio-Medical Childbirth Studies;' (c) the 'Institutional Dimension of Childbirth;' (d) the 'Cultural Dimension of Childbirth.' Conclusion: from the health management perspective, home birth is not widely accepted today as a valid and safe alternative. However, women's social representations indicate an interest in returning to birth at home as a response to the excessive medicalization and institutionalization of childbirth, and value highly its autonomy and comfort

Using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire to teach medical students developmental assessment: a descriptive analysis

BACKGROUND: After a survey of medical graduates' skills found a lack of confidence in developmental assessment, a program was introduced with the broad aims of increasing medical student confidence and respect for the parents' role in childhood developmental assessment. Research has shown that parents' concerns are as accurate as quality screening tests in assessing development, so the program utilised the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, a parent completed, child development assessment tool. METHOD: To evaluate the program, an interpretative analysis was completed on the students' reports written during the program and a questionnaire was administered to the parents to gain their perception of the experience. As well, student confidence levels in assessing growth and development were measured at the end of the paediatric term. RESULTS: Although there was an increase in student confidence in developmental assessment at the end of the term, it was not statistically significant. However the findings indicated that students gained increased understanding of the process and enhanced recognition of the parental role, and the study suggested there was increased confidence in some students. Parents indicated that they thought they should be involved in the teaching of students. CONCLUSION: The ASQ was shown to have been useful in an education program at the level of advanced beginners in developmental assessment