This title is directed primarily towards health care professionals outside of the United States. It takes a comprehensive look at the issues surrounding mental illness and pregnancy. Describing common disorders and their relationship with pregnancy, it promotes an understanding of the issues involved and offers tools to providing the most effective woman-centred maternity care. All health professionals concerned with the wellbeing of the pregnant woman will find invaluable help and guidance in this book. Given the identification of mental health problems as a leading cause of maternal death (CEMD 2001), this is an essential guide to the effects of pregnancy and childbirth on women and families coping with mental illness.

The delivery of high quality and equitable care for both mothers and newborns is complex and requires efforts across many sectors. The United States spends more on childbirth than any other country in the world, yet outcomes are worse than other high-resource countries, and even worse for Black and Native American women. There are a variety of factors that influence childbirth, including social determinants such as income, educational levels, access to care, financing, transportation, structural racism and geographic variability in birth settings. It is important to reevaluate the United States' approach to maternal and newborn care through the lens of these factors across multiple disciplines. Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice reviews and evaluates maternal and newborn care in the United States, the epidemiology of social and clinical risks in pregnancy and childbirth, birth settings research, and access to and choice of birth settings.

The main aim of this practical Handbookis to strengthen counselling and communication skills of skilled attendants (SAs) and other health providers, helping them to effectively discuss with women, families and communities the key issues surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, postnatal and post-abortion care. Counselling for Maternal and Newborn Health Careis divided into three main sections. Part 1 is an introduction which describes the aims and objectives and the general layout of the Handbook. Part 2 describes the counselling process and outlines the six key steps to effective counselling. It explores the counselling context and factors that influence this context including the socio-economic, gender, and cultural environment. A series of guiding principles is introduced and specific counselling skills are outlined. Part 3 focuses on different maternal and newborn health topics, including general care in the home during pregnancy; birth and emergency planning; danger signs in pregnancy; post-abortion care; support during labor; postnatal care of the mother and newborn; family planning counselling; breastfeeding; women with HIV/AIDS; death and bereavement; women and violence; linking with the community. Each Session contains specific aims and objectives, clearly outlining the skills that will be developed and corresponding learning outcomes. Practical activities have been designed to encourage reflection, provoke discussions, build skills and ensure the local relevance of information. There is a review at the end of each session to ensure the SAs have understood the key points before they progress to subsequent sessions.

A nationally recognized expert on women's reproductive mental health offers the first book on the emotional passages of pregnant women.

The prospect of parenthood represents a milestone in anyone's life course and is often a period of stress and challenge. There are a number of significant mental health problems that can occur during the perinatal period, the consequences of which can be both enduring and, occasionally, life threatening. However, irrespective of the specifics of the clinical manifestation of a disturbance, the distress and misery that accompanies it has significant ramifications for the mother or mother-to-be and her partner and family. This book is arranged in themed parts that represent key aspects of facili.

This text examines the great variey of mental health disorders that can affect women during pregnancy and after giving birth. Issues such as infertility and child abuse are covered and case descriptions and personal accounts are also provided.

This book will assist the reader by providing individually tailored, high-quality bio-psycho-social care to patients with a wide range of problems within the fields of obstetrics, gynaecology, fertility, oncology, and sexology. Each chapter addresses a particular theme, issue, or situation in a problem-oriented and case-based manner that emphasizes the differences between routine and bio-psycho-social care. Relevant facts and figures are presented, advice is provided regarding the medical, psychological, and caring process, and contextual aspects are discussed. The book offers practical tips and actions within the bio-psycho-social approach, and highlights important do’s and don’ts. To avoid a strict somatic thinking pattern, the importance of communication, multidisciplinary collaboration, and creation of a working alliance with the patient is emphasized. The book follows a consistent format, designed to meet the needs of challenged clinicians.