Pregnancy and childbirth

30th Triennial ICM Congress, 1-5 June, Prague, Czech Republic

Diabetes is a global public health problem (WHO 2011) and is likely to be of increasing significance to women and midwives. Drawing on a review of the international literature, and focusing on pre-conception care, this paper reflects on the role of midwives in promoting ‘normal’ pregnancy and birth.

It is widely acknowledged that women with diabetes have adverse pregnancy outcomes including higher rates of caesarean birth, and increased rates for stillbirth and neonatal death, as well as other complications (CEMACH 2010). Although definitions of pre-conception care vary internationally, it is acknowledged to have the potential to reduce adverse outcomes although uptake of pre-conception care can be poor (Temple 2011).

The literature suggests that many women would prefer care that focuses on ‘normal’ pregnancy, rather than on the management of a ‘diabetic pregnancy’ (Earle 2012). This paper argues that midwives should have a more central role in the care of women with diabetes because: (a) women with diabetes generally desire ‘normal’ experiences of pregnancy and birth, and (b) midwives are the custodians of ‘normal’ birth and therefore best placed to provide such care. Given the potential for pre-conception care in reducing poor pregnancy outcomes, this paper argues for a (re)consideration of the role of midwives in providing local pre-conception care to women as a way forward in ensuring optimal care for women and babies that meets women’s needs for normalcy.

31^st Triennial ICM Congress, 18-22 June, Toronto, Canada

Diabetes in pregnancy has a wide range of modifiable risk factors but uptake of pre-conception care services, which could reduce these risks, is low. This systematic review explored the views and experiences of pre-conception care for women with pre-existing diabetes.

Society for Reproductive & Infant Psychology Conference, York, UK, September 2017

While the advantages of breastfeeding are well documented, rates for breastfeeding often fall short of international and national targets. Increasing attention has been paid to the role of men in infant feeding but a lot of the research about men has been elicited from women, rather than from men themselves. To explore these issues further, a systematic review of the qualitative research on infant feeding was carried out, focusing specifically on men’s own views and experiences. Evidence was identified by searching electronic databases (CINAL, Cochrane, PubMed and Scopus), manually searching citations, and by searching the grey literature. Studies were included in the review if they discussed men’s views and experiences of infant feeding and if they reported primary qualitative data. A total of 20 research papers were included in the review and each study was summarised and then analysed thematically to produce a synthesis. Five major analytical themes were identified: men’s knowledge of infant feeding; men’s perceptions of their role in infant feeding; positive views on breastfeeding; negative views on breastfeeding; and, men’s experiences of health promotion and support. The review concludes by highlighting that while men can play an important role in supporting women, they do not have a significant role in infant feeding decisions.