Background: In the Netherlands the government advises mothers to breastfeed for six months or longer. However, only 51% of Dutch mothers still breastfeed at six months and many women do not maintain the practice for as long as they intended. This study examines how an existing intervention, the Breastfeeding …

Objective: Gaining too much or too little weight in pregnancy (according to Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines) negatively affects both mother and child, but many women find it difficult to manage their gestational weight gain (GWG). Here we describe the use of the intervention mapping protocol to …

At the beginning of the twenty first century obesity entered Dutch maternity care as a ‘new illness’ challenging maternity care professionals in providing optimal care for women with higher BMI’s. International research revealed that obese women had more perinatal problems than normal weight women. …

Objective reduction of physical activity (PA) during pregnancy is common but undesirable, as it is associated with negative outcomes, including excessive gestational weight gain. Our objective was to explore changes in five types of activity that occurred during pregnancy and the behavioural determinants …

Healthy gestational weight gain (GWG) is associated with better pregnancy outcomes and with improved health in the later lives of women and babies. In this thesis the author describes the process of developing an intervention to help pregnant women reach a healthy GWG. The need for this intervention …

A key element in social development is interaction with others. Preterm infants have an increased risk for problems in this aspect. We aimed to gain insight into parents’ perception about their preterm child’s social interaction upon reaching school age. Twelve caregivers of preterm infants aged five …

Woman-centered care is an important focus of midwifery education and the research programme of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands. This is due to governmental recommendations to improve midwifery care by means of more emphasis on addressing individual woman’s health needs, her expectations …

Prevalence rates and the health problems related to maternal distress instigated the development of an intervention to prevent and reduce maternal distress during pregnancy. Intervention Mapping served as a framework for the intervention development. A needs assessment using the PRECEDE model and the …

Maternal distress varies in prevalence rates and displays various complaints, signs and symptoms. Additionally, multiple factors and causes contribute to both women’s vulnerability and manifestation of maternal distress. Worldwide maternal distress prevalence rates are up to 41% and the evidence of short …

Objectives: Successful implementation of preconception and interconception care contributes to optimizing pregnancy outcomes. While interconception care to new mothers could potentially be provided by Preventive Child Health Care services, this care is currently not routinely available in the Netherlands. …