Academic literature on the topic '111006 Midwifery'

Interprofessional education (IPE) has been found to improve patient outcomes and increase health practitioner career satisfaction according to The World Health Organization (2010). Despite these identified benefits arising from over thirty years of IPE research in a global context, there is still surprisingly little evidence with regard to how midwives develop their professional identity within the context of IPE. This study examined the interprofessional aspects of professional identity development for students and qualified clinicians in midwifery, including midwifery clinical educators and midwifery academics. This study utilised the theoretical framework of social constructionism. There were fifteen participants involved from three Australian universities, one hospital and one community setting. Using narrative inquiry as the methodology, stories were collected using in-depth interviews and a narrative approach. The individual stories were examined for revelations into the meanings drawn by each participant using a thematic analysis approach. Five themes emerged from the data. These were: shared misconceptions; shared understandings; shared misdirections; shared professional values; and shared misgivings. Then each story was examined for commonalities and differences of meaning drawn across all of the participants, congruent with Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) narrative inquiry space (NIS) analytical approach of relational, temporal and spatial. From this interpretive analysis, a further lens was developed to more adequately present the interpretation of the participants’ narratives which could not be accommodated with the NIS. This resulted in the fourth element of ‘fluidity’ comprised of the influencers of ‘empowerment’, ‘competence’, ‘value’, and ‘respect.’ It is through the element of fluidity that the nascent nature of professional identity of the midwife in interprofessional education has been explored and presented. Thus, a theoretical understanding of the intersection between IPE and professional identity development in midwifery has been illuminated as a way to potentially enhance the efficacy of interprofessional practice, education and research. Moreover, the focus on student and registered midwives, both in the education sector and in the clinical environment is critical because, as the midwifery workforce, they are charged with the ongoing development of midwifery as a profession promoting improved patient outcomes, their own professional identity and interprofessional practice.

This research attempted to identify the causes of and variables associated with early weaning (during the first three months) by breastfeeding women. Prior to 1970, there was a decline in breastfeeding rates, with a gradual increase during the 1970's and 1980's. Since the late 1980's, even with increased knowledge, evidence about the benefits and health promotion activity, rates remain relatively static. Of particular concern is the early postnatal through to three months of age group, where there continues to be a marked drop out of almost 50%. This was a descriptive longitudinal study of 682 primiparous and multiparous mothers and their babies that collected both qualitative and quantitative data via a series of self-administered questionnaires. They were completed at three monthly intervals over a period of up to twelve months. Participants exited the study following weaning or at the baby's first birth.

Anorexia nervosa is a complex eating disorder that usually develops during adolescence. Individuals who have anorexia are known to refuse treatment and exhibit challenging behaviours. Many paediatric nurses can develop professional interpersonal relationships with these patients however some can find it difficult to establish these relationships.

Chronic pain is a common problem among elderly people. Proper self-management of chronic pain is crucial in promoting general well-being; however, elderly people who live in Thai rural communities have limited access to self-management resources. Understanding the way these people self-manage chronic pain within their life context will provide guidance on how to support them to achieve effective self-management, which in turn, enhances their well-being. The broad aim of the study was to describe and understand the ways in which elderly people, aged 60 years or over, who lived in rural communities in north-east Thailand, self-managed their chronic pain. The specific objectives were to: examine the strategies that they used to self-manage their chronic pain; identify the factors that moderated the way they self-managed their chronic pain; develop a substantive theory that explained the experience of self-managing chronic pain; and evaluate the developed theory within the context of current literature in the area.

The purpose of this study was to develop a substantive theory of the processes used by midwives in exercising their scope of practice when caring for women and babies during normal birthing. The grounded theory approach of Strauss and Corbin (Corbin & Strauss, 2008; Strauss & Corbin, 1998, 1990) was employed to inform data collection and analysis, including the use of participant observation and in-depth interviews with seventeen midwives practising in a hospital maternity unit. From this approach, the core category of Promoting normal birthing: Aspiring to develop a midwife-led scope of practice emerged, illustrating the processes utilised by midwives in practice to support normal birth.

The relationship between nurse and patient is important to nursing care and health outcomes. This relationship can be therapeutic for both nurse and patient. However, the current lack of conceptual consensus and descriptive clarity in nursing theory has precluded the relationship from the realms of therapy and healing. The goal of this study was to discern, from descriptions given by nurses and patients, the essential structure, dynamics, practical application and advantages to nursing practice of a therapeutic relationship between nurse and patient.

The concept of palliative care as an holistic approach to the management of patients with incurable conditions has its roots in the hospice movement. It has since grown into an established field of practice for health professionals of all disciplines and has been recognised as a medical specialty since 1987. Palliative care remains relatively underdeveloped in the paediatric setting for a number of reasons. Firstly, death in childhood is now relatively rare due to the advent of antibiotics, immunisation and advances in the treatment of malignancies. This means that any health professional's individual exposure to palliative care issues is limited, making the development and maintenance of skills difficult. Secondly, the traditional model of palliative care, as a path to be taken when all curative options have been explored, does not adequately serve children and adolescents where the transition to palliative care may be less clear due to a broader range of diagnoses and patterns of disease progression. Children also present added dimensions to palliative care including developmental, ethical and physiological considerations. The involvement of parents as care givers and decision makers further increases the complexity of providing palliative care. Research is lacking and the evidence on which to base practice is limited. Nevertheless, there are theoretical constructs that can be utilised to build a framework for research in this area. The works of Glaser and Strauss, Corr and Copp on theories of death and dying coupled with earlier works by Freud, Erikson and Piaget on theories of childhood development provide a suitable theoretical framework. Corr's 'task' based model described in 1992 allows us to view the process of providing pediatric palliative care from many different perspectives, and thus provides for a rich multi-dimensional model of pediatric palliative care to be constructed. This study was done to analyse and investigate the knowledge, attitudes and needs of both providers and recipients of palliative care in a major tertiary paediatric hospital, the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), Melbourne, Australia and, in addition, to examine various models of delivery of paediatric palliative care in use around the world, and to identify from the literature the constituents of care that make up 'best practice' as regards paediatric palliative care. From this investigation it is hoped to develop a model of care that will best serve the RCH and its patients.

Nursing brings together two persons' worlds, one being that of the nurse and the other of the patient. Their worlds embody past experiences, expectations, limitations and potential. Nurse theorists have described this bringing together as an intersecting intersubjectivity or presence. This Heideggerian phenomenological study enabled the researcher to explore six registered nurses' meaning of presence as experienced within their clinical practice. These registered nurses were all clinicians with extensive experience in a variety of clinical settings. A hermeneutical analysis of their experiences revealed that presence is a powerful intersecting of nurses' and patients' subjective worlds. Presence, according to these nurses, was an enriching experience within nursing practice that provided them with immense professional satisfaction. It was from the spiritual connectedness of care that their need to care for and be with patients in meaningful interactions was fulfilled. Despite the difficulties these participants encountered, their commitment to care and need to find meaning in their practice motivated them to transcend these encumbrances and connect with patients in deep meaningful ways. This study recommends strategies be implemented within nursing to acknowledge these experiences, and for nurses to create times and space to share these subjective experiences.

During the last century, much of the literature that discussed loss and grief was developed within an empirical-analytical paradigm. Stage models and theories of grief were proposed to explain and describe a universal process of grieving. Nurses, to a large extent, accept and perpetuate these notions of loss and grief and continue to provide prescriptive care in order to help their patients through each stage of grief. These theories and models fail to recognise individuals' unique circumstances that shape their actions and reactions to loss. Especially, these theories and models are inadequate in informing nurses when caring for people whose loss is not through death. The aim of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore spousal carers' lived experience of loss. Ten spousal carers of partners with Multiple Sclerosis participated in this study. In-depth, unstructured interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed using a modified form of the method outlined by Diekelmann, Allen, and Tanner, (1989). Three relational themes: experiencing the loss, caring as worrying and reinterpreting life meaning, were identified. The constitutive pattern that emerged was weaving through a web of paradoxes. Within this web were three paradoxes: loss/gain, limiting/enabling and vulnerability/strength. The relational themes and constitutive pattern explicated illuminate these carers' experiences of loss from their perspective thus enabling deeper insight of their experience. The constitutive pattern provides understanding into what these participants (and their families) are living through, their personal strengths, weaknesses, hopes and resources in coping with loss not through death. The findings of the study therefore have implications for nursing practice, education and research, and health service provision.

This study investigated childbirth education programs in Victoria from the perspective of the educators themselves. Prior to the study the Ministerial Review of Birthing Services in Victoria (1990) entitled “Having a Baby in Victoria” identified shortcomings in the childbirth education programs offered to expectant women and their partners. The study sought to interpret the experiences of the childbirth educators with regard to the development, implementation, delivery and evaluation of their programs.