Suchergebnisse

PUBLISHED ; Background Immigration and asylum seeking has been an important social and political phenomenon in Ireland since the mid 1990s. Inward migration to Ireland was seen in unprecedented numbers from 1995 onward, peaking in 2002 with 11,634 applications for refugee status. Asylum and immigration is an issue of national and international relevance as the numbers of displaced people worldwide continues to grow, reaching the highest level in 20 years at 45.2 million in 2012. Midwives provide the majority of care to childbearing women around the world, whether working as autonomous practitioners or under the direction of an obstetrician. Limited data currently exist on the perspectives of midwives who provide care to childbearing women while they are in the process of seeking asylum. Such data are important to midwifery leaders, educators, and policy-makers. The aims of this study were to explore midwives? perceptions and experiences of providing care to women in the asylum process and to gain insight into how midwives can be equipped and supported to provide more effective care to this group in the future. Methods Data were collected via indepth unstructured interviews with a purposive sample of ten midwives from two sites, one a large urban inner city hospital, and the second, a smaller more rural maternity hospital. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using content analysis. Results Five themes emerged from the data, barriers to communication, understanding cultural difference, challenges of caring for women who were unbooked, the emotional cost of caring, and structural barriers to effective care. Conclusion Findings highlight a need to focus on support and education for midwives, improved maternity services for immigrant women, and urgent policy revision.

This article presents some of the findings from the original research carried out with asylum seeking and refugee women in Ireland who were pregnant or who had recently given birth. The explosion in numbers in Ireland from 1998 onwards has been such that this group now comprises more than one in five of every birth in the country's three major maternity hospitals, all based in Dublin. The article explores the background reasons for the major increase in recent years of this group of women. It discusses the difficult circumstances encountered by women who must engage with a system of maternity care unused to such complex needs, amidst a general policy climate of uncertainty and even hostility towards asylum seekers. The research findings contribute to the feminist literature on maternity and challenge us to examine the way in which globalization is impacting on women as mothers and the need for challenging Western states anew on the development of a more coherent model of maternity care in response to the needs of such women.

Carolyn L Tobin,1 Jo Murphy-Lawless2 1Department of Nursing, College of Health and Human Services, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA; 2School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland Background: Immigration and asylum seeking has been an important social and political phenomenon in Ireland since the mid 1990s. Inward migration to Ireland was seen in unprecedented numbers from 1995 onward, peaking in 2002 with 11,634 applications for refugee status. Asylum and immigration is an issue of national and international relevance as the numbers of displaced people worldwide continues to grow, reaching the highest level in 20 years at 45.2 million in 2012. Midwives provide the majority of care to childbearing women around the world, whether working as autonomous practitioners or under the direction of an obstetrician. Limited data currently exist on the perspectives of midwives who provide care to childbearing women while they are in the process of seeking asylum. Such data are important to midwifery leaders, educators, and policy-makers. The aims of this study were to explore midwives' perceptions and experiences of providing care to women in the asylum process and to gain insight into how midwives can be equipped and supported to provide more effective care to this group in the future.Methods: Data were collected via indepth unstructured interviews with a purposive sample of ten midwives from two sites, one a large urban inner city hospital, and the second, a smaller more rural maternity hospital. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Five themes emerged from the data, barriers to communication, understanding cultural difference, challenges of caring for women who were unbooked, the emotional cost of caring, and structural barriers to effective care. Conclusion: Findings highlight a need to focus on support and education for midwives, improved maternity services for immigrant women, and urgent policy revision. Keywords: midwives, maternity care provision, Ireland, refugees, asylum process

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Illustrations -- Contributors' affiliations -- Acknowledgements -- Foreword: The family experience of home birth -- 1 Introduction: A toxic culture -- Part I The Birth Project Group (BPG) survey: Introduction -- 2 The BPG survey: The results -- 3 The BPG survey: Working with the data -- 4 The BPG survey: Fear -- 5 Floors, ceilings and cellars: Midwives, the NMC and 'The Code' -- Part II Understanding traumatic experiences for women, midwives, families and the wider community: Introduction -- 6 Trauma experienced by student midwives -- 7 The trauma women experience as the result of our current maternity services -- 8 When midwives become other -- 9 Fundamental contradictions: The business model versus midwifery values -- Part III Responding practically and politically to change our troubled maternity structures: Introduction -- 10 Healing ourselves as midwives -- 11 Creating a community of support for pregnant women and new mothers -- 12 Performing the revolution, creating a counter-narrative on birth in Ireland -- 13 Documenting empowerment -- 14 Hidden in plain sight: Mapping the erasure of the maternal body from visual culture -- 15 Responding to the tragedy of maternal death: A collective challenges the state -- Part IV Looking ahead and back -- 16 Confronting the state of emergency which is our maternity services -- Afterword: 'Mrs Brown is fully' -- References -- Index

PRESENTED ; Durban, South Africa ; Antenatal education (ANE) is offered in maternity hospitals in Ireland with the premise that it prepares women for birth and motherhood . There is evidence to suggest however, that current ANE programmes do not reflect women ?s expectations and needs . This research is focused on working towards developing antenatal education that is grounded in the felt needs and life experiences of women , with a view to supporting women?s decision - making processes, and understanding of pregnancy, birth and early motherhood . Until now, general planning and development of maternity care services in Ireland ha ve involved minimal consultation with women as service users. Dialogue and active participation with women and antenatal educators to develop ANE is a significant focus of this study . A Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach is used informed by the conviction that all individuals have the right to actively contribute to the democratic development of policies and processes that affect them . ; This work is funded by a Health Research Board (HRB) Clinical Research Training Fell owship in Nursing and Midwifery. Grant Number: NM/2008/21