INTRODUCTION: Integrated care is seen as an enabling strategy in organising healthcare to improve quality, finances, personnel and sustainability. Developments in the organisation of maternity care follow this trend. The way care is organised should support the general aims and outcomes of healthcare …

Background and Aims It is difficult to overestimate the importance of safe staffing levels within the context of effective, quality healthcare. Poor staffing has been cited as a contributory factor in the number of unnecessary hospital deaths. This is particularly so in maternity care, where poor staffing …

Background: In the context of decreasing breastfeeding rates and unsuccessful breastfeeding promotion campaigns, a qualitative research project in the Northern part of the Netherlands was initiated. Objectives: As part of the overall project, the aim of this study was to explore the content and sources …

Background: Pregnant women have preferences about how they intend to manage labour pain. Unmet intentions can result in negative emotions and/or birth experiences. Objective: To examine the antenatal level of intention for intrapartum pain relief and the factors that might predict this intention. Design: …

1 Maternity services across Europe during the pandemic has undergone changes to limit virus transmission; however, many changes are not evidence-based. 2 Although these changes were introduced to keep women, babies and healthcare staff safe, the exclusion of companions and the separation of mothers and …

Introduction This study aims to explore maternal and perinatal outcomes of migrant women in Iceland. Material and methods This prospective population-based cohort study included women who gave birth to a singleton in Iceland between 1997 and 2018, comprising a total of 92 403 births. Migrant women were …

Problem Within maternity care policies and practice, pregnant migrant women are regarded as a vulnerable population. Background Women’s experiential knowledge is a key element of woman-centred care but is insufficiently addressed in midwifery practice and research that involves migrant women. Aim To …

Background: In 2009, the Steering Committee for Pregnancy and Childbirth in the Netherlands recommended the implementation of continuous care during labor in order to improve perinatal outcomes. However, in current care, routine maternity caregivers are unable to provide this type of care, resulting …

Background: The maternity care system in the Netherlands is well known for its support of community-based midwifery. However, regular midwifery practices typically do not offer caseload midwifery care – one-to-one continuity of care throughout pregnancy and birth. Because we know very little about the …

Introduction: Shared decision-making is considered to be a key aspect of woman-centered care and a strategy to improve communication, respect, and satisfaction. This scoping review identified studies that used a shared decision-making support strategy as the primary intervention in the context of perinatal …