Prospectus, November 18, 1987

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1987/1025/thumbnail.jp

Prospectus, December 9, 1987

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1987/1028/thumbnail.jp

Views of women and health professionals on mHealth lifestyle interventions in pregnancy: a qualitative investigation

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that women are failing to meet guidelines for nutrition, physical activity, and weight gain during pregnancy. Interventions to promote a healthy lifestyle in pregnancy demonstrate mixed results and many are time and resource intensive. mHealth-delivered interventions offer an opportunity to provide trusted source information in a timely and cost-effective manner. Studies regarding women\u27s and health professionals\u27 views of mHealth in antenatal care are limited. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore women\u27s and health professionals\u27 views regarding mHealth information sources and interventions to assist women to eat well, be physically active, and gain healthy amounts of weight in pregnancy. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative research approach employed focus groups and in-depth interviews with 15 pregnant or postpartum women and 12 in-depth interviews with health professionals including two from each category: obstetricians, general practitioners, midwives, dietitians, physiotherapists, and community pharmacists. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. RESULTS: Women uniformly embraced the concept of mHealth information sources and interventions in antenatal care and saw them as central to information acquisition and ideally incorporated into future antenatal care processes. Health professionals exhibited varied views perceiving mHealth as an inevitable, often parallel, service rather than one integrated into the care model. Four key themes emerged: engagement, risk perception, responsibility, and functionality. Women saw their ability to access mHealth elements as a way to self-manage or control information acquisition that was unavailable in traditional care models and information sources. The emergence of technology was perceived by some health professionals to have shifted control of information from trusted sources, such as health professionals and health organizations, to nontrusted sources. Some health professionals were concerned about the medicolegal risks of mHealth (incorrect or harmful information and privacy concerns), while others acknowledged that mHealth was feasible if inherent risks were addressed. Across both groups, there was uncertainty as to who should be responsible for ensuring high-quality mHealth. The absence of a key pregnancy or women\u27s advocacy group, lack of health funds for technologies, and the perceived inability of maternity hospitals to embrace technology were seen to be key barriers to provision. Women consistently identified the functionality of mHealth as adding value to antenatal care models. For some health professionals, lack of familiarity with and fear of mHealth limited their engagement with and comprehension of the capacity of new technologies to support antenatal care. CONCLUSIONS: Women exhibited positive views regarding mHealth for the promotion of a healthy lifestyle in antenatal care. Conversely, health professionals expressed a much wider variation in attitudes and were more able to identify potential risks and barriers to development and implementation. This study contributes to the understanding of the opportunities and challenges in developing mHealth lifestyle interventions in antenatal care

Gestational weight gain information: seeking and sources among pregnant women

BACKGROUND: Promoting healthy gestational weight gain (GWG) is important for preventing obstetric and perinatal morbidity, along with obesity in both mother and child. Provision of GWG guidelines by health professionals predicts women meeting GWG guidelines. Research concerning women\u27s GWG information sources is limited. This study assessed pregnant women\u27s sources of GWG information and how, where and which women seek GWG information. METHODS: Consecutive women (n = 1032) received a mailed questionnaire after their first antenatal visit to a public maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Recalled provision of GWG guidelines by doctors and midwives, recalled provided GWG goals, and the obtaining of GWG information and information sources were assessed. RESULTS: Participants (n = 368; 35.7 % response) averaged 32.5 years of age and 20.8 weeks gestation, with 33.7 % speaking a language other than English. One in ten women recalled receiving GWG guidelines from doctors or midwives, of which half were consistent with Institute of Medicine guidelines. More than half the women (55.4 %) had actively sought GWG information. Nulliparous (OR 7.07, 95 % CI = 3.91-12.81) and obese (OR 1.96, 95 % CI = 1.05-3.65) women were more likely to seek information. Underweight (OR 0.29, 95 % CI = 0.09-0.97) women and those working part time (OR 0.52, 95 % CI = 0.28-0.97) were less likely to seek information. Most frequently reported GWG sources included the internet (82.7 %), books (55.4 %) and friends (51.5 %). The single most important sources were identified as the internet (32.8 %), general practitioners (16.9 %) and books (14.9 %). CONCLUSION: More than half of women were seeking GWG guidance and were more likely to consult non-clinician sources. The small numbers given GWG targets, and the dominance of non-clinical information sources, reinforces that an important opportunity to provide evidence based advice and guidance in the antenatal care setting is currently being missed

Witness: The Modern Writer as Witness

Editor\u27s Note [Excerpt] The United States, as a society, is on the brink of profound and positive change. Demographically and culturally, things are improving, and the reason is obvious to people who study history: Conflict pushes us to be better, to strive for principled goals. Consider the inspired eco-advocacy of Greta Thunberg. Or the swearing in of most diverse class of lawmakers in history into the 116th Congress. Or billionaire Robert F. Smith’s pledge to pay off every Morehouse College (in Atlanta, Georgia) student’s debt. Indeed, there are many good people helping and great moments happening in spite of a bleak 24-hour news cycle designed to ruin happiness and to limit our understanding of our human potential. We at Witness see this yearning for transformation in the works we selected. The doorway must be crossed, and the voices and characters we featured in our Winter 2019 issue stand at the vestibule, ready for the light to warm them, primed to fight for that necessary illumination.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/witness/1000/thumbnail.jp

Parkland, September 30, 1987

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1987/1020/thumbnail.jp

Prospectus, December 17, 1987

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1987/1029/thumbnail.jp