At Work in the Field of Birth

At Work in the Field of Birth
Author: Margaret MacDonald
Publisher:
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2007
Genre: Ethnology
ISBN:

At Work in the Field of Birth is an ethnographic study of midwifery in Canada in the wake of its historic transition from the margins as a grassroots social movement devoted to low-tech, woman-centered care to a regulated profession within the public health care system. In January 1994, after decades of lobbying by midwives and their supporters, the province of Ontario recognized midwifery as a profession for the first time in more than a century. Through stories about becoming and being a midwife and stories about receiving midwifery care, this book describes how fundamental tenets of midwifery philosophy and practice--the meaning of tradition, natural birth, and home birth, and the place of medical technology in midwifery--are being reworked by the practical and ideological challenges of midwifery's new place within the formal health care system. MacDonald presents contemporary midwifery as a complex cultural system in which "nature" and "tradition" emerge as dynamic rather than esssentialized social categories of meaning and experience.

Birth Settings in America

Birth Settings in America
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2020-05-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309669820

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.

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 587
Release: 2015-07-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309324882

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Birth Strike

Birth Strike
Author: Jenny Brown
Publisher: PM Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2019-04-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1629636533

When House Speaker Paul Ryan urged U.S. women to have more children, and Ross Douthat requested “More babies, please,” in a New York Times column, they openly expressed what policymakers have been discussing for decades with greater discretion. Using technical language like “age structure,” “dependency ratio,” and “entitlement crisis,” establishment think tanks are raising the alarm: if U.S. women don’t get busy having more children, we’ll face an aging workforce, slack consumer demand, and a stagnant economy. Feminists generally believe that a prudish religious bloc is responsible for the protracted fight over reproductive freedom in the U.S. and that politicians only attack abortion and birth control to appeal to those “values voters.” But hidden behind this conventional explanation is a dramatic fight over women’s reproductive labor. On one side, elite policymakers want an expanding workforce reared with a minimum of employer spending and a maximum of unpaid women’s work. On the other side, women are refusing to produce children at levels desired by economic planners. By some measures our birth rate is the lowest it has ever been. With little access to childcare, family leave, health care, and with insufficient male participation, U.S. women are conducting a spontaneous birth strike. In other countries, panic over low birth rates has led governments to underwrite childbearing and childrearing with generous universal programs, but in the U.S., women have not yet realized the potential of our bargaining position. When we do, it will lead to new strategies for winning full access to abortion and birth control, and for improving the difficult working conditions U.S. parents now face when raising children.

Birth Work as Care Work

Birth Work as Care Work
Author: Alana Apfel
Publisher: Kairos
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9781629631516

"Introduction by Silvia Federici, Foreword by Loretta J. Ross, Preface by Victoria Law"--Cover.

Babies Are Not Pizzas

Babies Are Not Pizzas
Author: Rebecca Dekker
Publisher:
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2019-08-20
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9781732549661

While finishing her doctorate, Rebecca gave birth to her firstborn. But hospital practices and policies that were more than 20 years out of date left her with preventable complications. Join Rebecca as she exposes the stark realities of institutional care during childbirth and reveals inspirational solutions for parents and professionals alike.

Optimal Birth: What, why & how

Optimal Birth: What, why & how
Author: Sylvie Donna
Publisher: Fresh Heart Publishing
Total Pages: 685
Release: 2010
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1906619220

A book to help midwives and other health care professionals think through the practicalities of optimising pregnancies and births. After explaining precisely how 'optimal' is defined, nine reasons are presented to justify why this kind of birth is best. Finally, key practical issues are considered and reflective questions provided, so as to give caregivers a clear basis for clinical practice, wherever their place of work. This easy-read, accessible book, which is fully referenced, is equally useful for students of midwifery (or obstetrics, or medicine generally), practising midwives, doulas, and maternity care assistants. This third edition includes changes based on feedback and some additional material.

Where There is No Midwife

Where There is No Midwife
Author: Sarah Pinto
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2008
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9781845453107

"In the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh, an agricultural region with high rates of infant mortality, maternal health services are poor while family planning efforts are intensive. By following the daily lives of women in this setting, the author considers the women's own experiences of birth and infant death, their ways of making-do, and the hierarchies they create and contend with. This book develops an approach to the care that focuses on emotion, domestic spaces, illicit and extra-institutional biomedicine, and household and neighborly relations that these women are able to access. It shows that, as part of the concatenation of affect and access, globalized moralities about reproduction are dependent on ambiguous ideas about caste. Through the unfolding of birth and death, a new vision of "untouchability" emerges that is integral to visions of progress."--Jacket.

The Birth of Modern Europe

The Birth of Modern Europe
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2010-12-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9004189351

It seems undeniable that Jan de Vries has cast an indelible impression upon the field of early modern economic history. With his rejection of traditional models that left pre-industrial Europe with little to no role to play in modern development, de Vries’ work has laid claim to the rich significance of the early modern period as the birth of the contemporary West. Culminating in The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy 1650 to the Present (2008), his work has changed the way scholars conceptualize and study this dynamic period, as the contributors in this volume attest. Utilizing the methods and concepts pioneered by de Vries, these authors display the depth and breadth of his influence, with applications ranging from trade to architecture, from the Netherlands to China, and from the 1400s to the present day.

Birth in the Age of AIDS

Birth in the Age of AIDS
Author: Cecilia Van Hollen
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2013-04-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0804786143

Birth in the Age of AIDS is a vivid and poignant portrayal of the experiences of HIV-positive women in India during pregnancy, birth, and motherhood at the beginning of the 21st century. The government of India, together with global health organizations, established an important public health initiative to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child. While this program, which targets poor women attending public maternity hospitals, has improved health outcomes for infants, it has resulted in sometimes devastatingly negative consequences for poor, young mothers because these women are being tested for HIV in far greater numbers than their male spouses and are often blamed for bringing this highly stigmatized disease into the family. Based on research conducted by the author in India, this book chronicles the experiences of women from the point of their decisions about whether to accept HIV testing, through their decisions about whether or not to continue with the birth if they test HIV-positive, their birthing experiences in hospitals, decisions and practices surrounding breast-feeding vs. bottle-feeding, and their hopes and fears for the future of their children.