Finding your emotional balance: a guide for women [Book review]

Book revie

Hypnobirthing: The breakthrough approach to safer, easier, comfortable birthing [Book review]

Book revie

How do women's self-report symptoms impact on identification of perinatal mental health problems

Purpose: Perinatal depression is common and increases the risk of adverse outcomes for both the mother and child. Despite regular contact with midwives and GPs during the perinatal period less than 50% of women with depression are identified and treated. A number of reasons for this have been proposed, however failure of health professionals to recognise the symptoms women present with may contribute. The aims of this paper are twofold; (1) to explore women’s self-report symptoms of perinatal depression and (2) understand how the symptoms women present with might impact on identification. Design/methodology/approach: Women were invited to post their experiences of perinatal depression on one of two on-line discussion forums over a nine month period. Data were analysed using a process of deductive thematic analysis informed by cognitive behavioural theory. Findings: Women’s symptoms were presented using five headings; triggers (for perinatal depression), thoughts; moods; physical reactions and behaviours. Women believed having a previous mental health problem contributed to their depression. Women’s self-report symptoms included intrusive and violent thoughts; emotional responses including fear, worry and anger and somatic symptoms including insomnia and weight changes. Women also reported aggressive behaviour and social withdrawal as part of their depressive symptomatology. Symptoms women present with may negatively impact on identification as they often over-lap with those of pregnancy; may not be included in the criteria for mental health assessment and may involve undesirable and socially unacceptable behaviour, making disclosure difficult. Research limitations/implications: Practical implications: A more inclusive understanding of women’s self-report symptoms of perinatal depression is called for, if identification is to improve. Originality/value: This paper offers an analysis of women’s self-report symptoms of depression, in the context of identification of perinatal mental health problems

Experiences of student midwives in the care of women with perinatal loss: a qualitative descriptive study

Background: Student midwives often encounter perinatal loss, such as stillbirth and neonatal death, as part of their experience of clinical practice. Coping with these events can be challenging because loss and death are the antitheses of birth, which predominates midwifery practice. There has been limited research on how student midwives are supported when caring for women with bereavement; however, poor support may have repercussions for future practice. Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of final-year student midwives when caring for women with perinatal loss. Methods: Two focus groups were conducted with 10 final-year BSc (Hons) Midwifery students. The focus groups lasted approximately 1 hour and used a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Four key themes were identified from the data: preparation for perinatal loss; ‘just dealing with it’; contradiction and challenges with the role of the midwife; and emotional impact and coping strategies. Conclusions Final-year student midwives believed they were ill-prepared in caring for women with perinatal loss, reported difficulties in communicating with women and believed they were excluded from their care. Students valued support from the bereavement midwife and identified effective strategies which helped them cope with bereavement and loss

Dye laser remote sensing of marine plankton

Dye laser, emitting four wavelengths sequentially in time, has been incorporated into helicopter-borne lidar flight package, for performing studies of laser-induced fluorescence of chlorophyll A in algae. Data obtained by multicolor lidar technique can provide water-resource management with rapid-access wide-area coverage of the impact of various environmental factors for any body of water

Supporting the mental health needs of youth through neurobiologically-informed approaches

Many children and adolescents are experiencing increased mental health challenges, resulting in a serious public health crisis. Mental health providers must apply innovative, research-based, and developmentally responsive intervention to meet the current mental health needs of youth. Neurobiologically-informed approaches, such as Polyvagal Theory, the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, and Interpersonal Neurobiology, could be used to support children and adolescents appropriately and effectively across a variety of settings. These approaches apply principles of neuroscience, acknowledge developmental considerations, and attend to the impact of trauma. This project reviews mental health trends in children and adolescents, provides a brief overview of these approaches, and applies these approaches to clinical intervention through a case example

The context of the Local Volume: structures and motions in the nearby universe

The 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) and the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) provide the most complete maps of the large-scale structures and motions in the nearby universe. These maps have been used to reconstruct the density field in the local volume, and to predict the corresponding velocity field and the dipole of the Local Group motion.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in "Galaxies in the Local Volume", 2008, eds B. Koribalski and H. Jerjen, Springer Astrophysics and Space Science Series (proceedings of conference held in Sydney on 8-13 July 2007