Search

Objective: To describe migrant women's experiences of bilingual community-based doulas (CBD) contribution to care in relation to labor and birth. Methods: Mixed methods study combining quantitative data from 82 women who received CBD-support within a randomized controlled trial and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of 12 women from the same study arm. Descriptive analyses were used for quantitative data and content analysis for the manifest and latent content of the qualitative data. Quantitative findings were categorized according to qualitative findings. Results: The women expressed how CBDs played an essential role in the response to their basic emotional, informational, and physical support needs, when no other female family member was available. Three main categories emerged from the analysis of interviews: The doulas help women feel safe and calm - providing support before, during and after childbirth; The doulas' support role fills the void left by a deeply missed family, mother or sister; and The doulas assist women in achieving autonomy through communication support and advocacy. More than half of women reported feeling involved during labor and birth (56.8%), most valued CBD positively (such as being competent, calm, secure, considerate, respectful, encouraging, supportive) (40.8%-80.3%), that CBD had interpreted (75.6%), facilitated communication with the midwife (60,3%), comforted the woman (57.7%) and reduced anxiety (48,7%). Few reported negative CBD-characteristics (1.3-9.2%). Nevertheless, 61.7% of women felt frightened sometime during labor and birth, which made it even more important to them that the doula was there. Few women (21.8%) reported that the CBD had supported her partner but expressed so in the interviews. Conclusion: Through an essential contribution in responding to migrant women's basic emotional, informational, and physical needs, bilingual community-based doulas have the potential to improve migrant

Objectives: Comparing language-supported group antenatal care (gANC) and standard antenatal care (sANC) for Somali-born women in Sweden, measuring overall ratings of care and emotional well-being, and testing the feasibility of the outcome measures. Design: A quasi-experimental trial with one intervention and one historical control group, nested in an intervention development and feasibility study. Setting: Midwifery-led antenatal care clinic in a mid-sized Swedish town. Participants: Pregnant Somali-born women (<25 gestational weeks); 64women in gANC and 81 in sANC. Intervention: Language-supported gANC (2017-2019). Participants were offered seven 60-minute group sessions with other Somali-born women led by one to two midwives, in addition to 15-30min individual appointments with their designated midwife. Outcomes: Primary outcomes were women's overall ratings of antenatal care and emotional well-being (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)) in gestational week >= 35and 2 months post partum. Secondary outcomes were specific care experiences, information received, social support, knowledge of pregnancy danger signs and obstetric outcomes. Results: Recruitment and retention of participants were challenging. Of eligible women, 39.3% (n=106) declined to participate. No relevant differences regarding overall ratings of antenatal care between the groups were detected (late pregnancy OR 1.42, 95% CI 0.50 to 4.16 and 6-8 weeks post partum OR 2.71, 95% CI 0.88 to 9.41). The reduction in mean EPDS score was greater in the intervention group when adjusting for differences at baseline (mean difference -1.89; 95% CI -3.73 to -0.07). Women in gANC were happier with received pregnancy and birth information, for example, caesarean section where 94.9% (n=37) believed the information was sufficient compared with 17.5% (n=7) in standard care (p<0.001) in late pregnancy. Conclusions: This evaluation suggests potential for language-supported gANC to improve knowledge acq

Introduction: Community-based Bilingual Doulas (CBDs) are women from migrant communities trained to support and comfort migrant women during labour and birth, and to facilitate linguistic and cultural communication between women, their partners and staff. The aim of the study was to describe CBDs' experiences of supporting migrant women during labour and birth, working alongside caregivers, and to explore CBDs perceptions of their work situation in a Swedish setting. Methods: As part of an ongoing randomised trial of CBD support in XX, Sweden, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with nine of the 35 participating CBDs. The interviews were conducted in each CBD's first language (Arabic, Somali, Tigrinya, Russian, Polish) or in Swedish, and were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English. Thematic analysis of data identified, analysed, interpreted and reported patterns and themes across the data. Results: The overarching theme which emerged was "Multi-tasking bilingual doulas bridging gaps - despite standing on fragile ground". To reach out a helping hand and receive appreciation from the women when their needs were met, motivated the CBDs to continue despite the constraints related to roles, working conditions and boundaries. The CBDs felt proud of being acknowledged, although they did also feel a need for more supervision and education. Conclusions: The CBDs experienced their doula tasks as meaningful and emotionally rewarding, which mostly outweighed the challenges of their work which they saw as insecure, exhausting and underpaid. If CBDs are implemented on a larger scale, the scope of their role (including boundaries), education, access to supervision and working conditions all need to be better addressed.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of community-based bilingual doula (CBD) support for improving the intrapartum care experiences and postnatal wellbeing of migrant women giving birth in Sweden. Design: Randomised controlled trial. Setting: Six antenatal care clinics and five hospitals in Stockholm, Sweden. Participants: 164 pregnant Somali-, Arabic-, Polish-, Russian- and Tigrinya-speaking women who could not communicate fluently in Swedish, were >= 18 years and had no contra-indications for vaginal birth. Intervention: In addition to standard labour support, women were randomised to CBD support (n = 88) or no such support during labour (n = 76). Trained CBDs met with women prior to labour, provided support by telephone after labour had started, then provided emotional, physical and communication support to women throughout labour and birth in hospital, and then met again with women after the birth. Primary outcomes: Women's overall ratings of the intrapartum care experiences (key question from the Migrant Friendly Maternity Care Questionnaire) and postnatal wellbeing (mean value of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) at 6-8 weeks after birth. Results: In total, 150 women remained to follow-up; 82 women (93.2%) randomised to receive CBD support and 68 women (89.5%) randomised to standard care (SC). Of women allocated CBD support, 60 (73.2%) received support during labour. There were no differences between the groups regarding women's intrapartum care experiences (very happy with care: CBD 80.2% (n = 65) vs SC 79.1% (n = 53); OR 1.07 CI 95% 0.48-2.40) or emotional wellbeing (EPDS mean value: CBD 4.71 (SD 4.96) vs SC 3.38 (SD 3.58); mean difference 1.33; CI 95% - 0.10-2.75). Conclusions: Community-based doula support during labour and birth for migrant women neither increased women's ratings of their care for labour and birth nor their emotional well-being 2 months postpartum compared with receiving standard care only. Further studies on the effectivenes

Aims: Immigrant women are at higher risk for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) than non-immigrant women. This study described the prevalence of GDM in immigrant women by maternal country of birth and examined the associations between immigrants' length of residence in Norway and GDM. Methods: This Norwegian national population-based study included 192,892 pregnancies to immigrant and 1,116,954 pregnancies to non-immigrant women giving birth during the period 1990-2013. Associations were reported as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using logistic regression models, adjusted for year of delivery, maternal age, marital status, health region, parity, education and income. Results: The prevalence and adjusted OR [CI] for GDM were substantially higher in immigrant women from Bangladesh (7.4%, OR 8.38 [5.41, 12.97]), Sri Lanka (6.3%, OR 7.60 [6.71, 8.60]), Pakistan (4.3%, OR 5.47 [4.90, 6.11]), India (4.4%, OR 5.18 [4.30, 6.24]) and Morocco (4.3%, OR 4.35 [3.63, 5.20]) compared to non-immigrants (prevalence 0.8%). Overall, GDM prevalence increased from 1.3% (OR 1.25 [1.14, 1.36]) to 3.3% (OR 2.55 [2.39, 2.71]) after 9 years of residence in immigrants compared to non-immigrant women. This association was particularly strong for women from South Asia. Conclusions: Gestational diabetes mellitus prevalence varied substantially between countries of maternal birth and was particularly high in immigrants from Asian countries. GDM appeared to increase with longer length of residence in certain immigrant groups.

Introduction Placental abruption is a serious complication in pregnancy. Its incidence varies across countries, but the information of how placental abruption varies in immigrant populations is limited. The aims of this study were to estimate the incidence of placental abruption in immigrant women compared with non-immigrants by maternal country and region of birth, reason for immigration, and length of residence. Material and methods We conducted a nationwide population-based study using data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway and Statistics Norway (1990-2016). The study sample included 1 558 174 pregnancies, in which immigrant women accounted for 245 887 pregnancies and 1 312 287 pregnancies were to non-immigrants. Crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% CI for placental abruption in immigrant women compared with non-immigrants were estimated by logistic regression with robust standard error estimations (accounting for within-mother clustering). Adjustment variables included year of birth, maternal age, parity, multiple pregnancies, chronic hypertension, and level of education. Results The incidence of placental abruption decreased during the study period for both immigrants (from 0.68% to 0.44%) and non-immigrants (from 0.80% to 0.34%). Immigrant women from sub-Saharan Africa had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.35 (95% CI 1.15-1.58) compared with non-immigrants for placental abruption, whereas immigrant women from Ethiopia had an adjusted odds ratio of 2.39 (95% CI 1.67-3.41). We found a small variation in placental abruption incidence by other countries or regions of birth, length of residence, and reason for immigration. Conclusions Immigrant women from sub-Saharan Africa, especially Ethiopia, have increased odds for placental abruption when giving birth in Norway. Reason for immigration and length of residence had little impact on the incidence of placental abruption.

Background: Migrant women's overall increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes is well known. The aim of this study was to investigate possible associations between stillbirth and maternal country of birth and other migration related factors (paternal origin, reason for immigration, length of residence and birthplace of firstborn child) in migrant women in Norway. Methods: Nationwide population-based study including births to primiparous and multiparous migrant women (n=198,520) and non-migrant women (n=1,156,444) in Norway between 1990 and 2013. Data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway and Statistics Norway. Associations were investigated by multiple logistic regression and reported as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Primiparous women from Sri-Lanka and Pakistan, and multiparous women from Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines and Former Yugoslavia had higher odds of stillbirth when compared to non-migrant women (adjusted OR ranged from 1.58 to 1.79 in primiparous and 1.50 to 1.71 in multiparous women). Primiparous migrant women whose babies were registered with Norwegian-born fathers had decreased odds of stillbirth compared to migrant women whose babies were registered with foreign-born fathers (aOR=0.73; CI 0.58-0.93). Primiparous women migrating for work or education had decreased odds of stillbirth compared to Nordic migrants (aOR=0.58; CI 0.39-0.88). Multiparous migrant women who had given birth to their first child before arriving in Norway had higher odds of stillbirth in later births in Norway compared with multiparous migrant women who had their first child after arrival (aOR=1.28; CI 1.06-1.55). Stillbirth was not associated with length of residence in Norway. Conclusions: This study identifies sub-groups of migrant women who are at an increased risk of stillbirth, and highlights the need to improve care for them. More attention should be paid to women from certain countries, multiparous women who had their first baby