Maternal Risk Factors

Health care providers can engage, collaborate and partner with Aboriginal communities in childhood obesity programs and interventions in order to develop holistic programs that are culturally acceptable, relevant to the community and with the input of the community (Macaulay, 2009). Population health professionals should support early childhood development and parenting skills programs and facilitate sustainable culturally supportive change in communities by using community resources to build on values and

Midwifery has been practiced in several communities of the world since time immemorial. A midwife is a trained person, mostly a woman, who assists in the pregnancy, delivery and post-partum care of an infant. In most countries of the world, the act of midwifery has been neglected for more modern and westernized medical practices deemed safer. In the First nations community, midwives have always been an integral part of the health system assisting expecting women during delivery. In the mid nineteenth and twentieth century, midwifery was outlawed in many communities and reserves ‘for the sake of the health of the country’ (Parkland Memorial Hospital School of Nurse Midwifery). With the outlaw of midwifery in First nation reserves, expectant mothers were transported to hospitals and clinics in urban centers for delivery. With this came several new challenges for expectant first nations women and mothers including, ‘increased maternal newborn complications, increased postpartum depression and decreased breast-feeding rates’ (O’Neil et al., 1990, Smith, 2002 and Klein et al., 2002a. The relegation of first nations midwifery has done more harm than good because it makes the birth process more medical, has led to the inflict of new post natal diseases and has led to the neglect of the traditional and spiritual roles in child

Multiple studies have been conducted on infant mortality and preterm birth in the United States. Many have identified how the rate of infant mortality and preterm birth is twice as high among African Americans women than White American women in the United States.(Orr et. al,2012; Dole et al,2004;Collins,2002) some studies convey socioeconomic as a major factor of preterm birth among African American’s. As Kleinman conveys in Racial differences in low birthweight: Trendsand risk factors when socioeconomic status increases the risk of giving birth to an infant of low birthweight decreases. On the other hand, there are some studies that convey high differences of preterm birth between black and white women of equal socioeconomic status.(Dole et

Discuss disparities related to ethnic and cultural groups relative to low birth weight infants and preterm births.

Data on obesity rates in Aboriginal people are mostly from self reported data and in many cases exclude populations living on reserve (Foulds, Bredin, & Warburton, 2011) and few are specific to provinces. Thus, this section will provide childhood obesity prevalence in Aboriginal populations from a number of relevant Canadian surveys including First Nations Regional Longitudinal Health Survey (RHS), the Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS), and the Nunavut Inuit Child Health Survey

The San Luis, AZ rate of low-weight births is that of 59.7 per 1,000 births this rate is actually lower than the state rate of 70.6 per 1,000 births (San Luis PCA, 2016). Although this rate is lower than the state rate it still remains as a concern as the county wide rate did increase within 2 years (Arizona Health Matters, 2016). Given that low-birth weight, prenatal care, and infant mortality can be interconnected the lack of appropriate care and the rising trend in the delivery of low-weight births will impact the rate of infant mortality directly within the community.

Taking all these pieces into consideration there could be issues of traditional Indigenous birthing practices being appropriated, but with the work of Indigenous midwives it can be seen that it will most likely be incorporated into more birthing options in a respectful

Due to cesarean section, it is proven that c-section birth causes infants to be at greater risk of developing a host of illnesses such as, asthma, type 1 diabetes, as they progress and grow older; As Australia has one of the highest c-section rates in the world with now at 32% of the population having a cesarean birth (s. McCulloch, 2018). Indigenous mothers are more likely to experience more long-term issues and even perinatal death compared to the 0.7% of non-aboriginal and non-Torres Strait islander mothers (The Department of Health, 2011).

There are many expecting mothers in our society that are very unware of what steps to take to ensure that they maintain a healthy environment for the developing fetus. In the case of Tano and Lonita, they are a couple of struggling immigrants who are working hard to get by. Unfortunately for them are some resources that are not made available to them due to socioeconomic status. However, there are many steps they can talk in order to eliminate the risks of a low birth weight, or preterm labor. One step would be to attend a comprehensive prenatal care program that are known to improve birth outcomes in situations such as Lonita’s. Another way would be for Tano to become more involved with Lonita and keep a strong bonded and caring relationship between them. The last solution would be to apply for government aid programs to improve financial situations.

While the results of this investigation are not representative of all Aboriginal fathers, neither in Australia nor the rest of the world, this study is a contribution to initiate the dialogue with the midwives and the broader Aboriginal community related to Aboriginal expectant fathers involvement in childbirth. Another key implication of this research is to motivate midwives in developing culturally appropriate support programs for expectant Aboriginal fathers involved in childbirth to empower this vulnerable but resilient population.

When reviewing the relevance of the article entitled “Diabetes in pregnancy among First Nations women” (Mayan, Oster, & Toth, 2014), it was discovered that important aspects of the study process such as its purpose, research questions, and significance were made very clear to the reader. The purpose of the study was to bring a greater understanding to why diabetes rates among First Nations women were higher than that of non-indigenous women and with that, find more suitable options of prevention and treatment of diabetes among this group (Mayan, Oster, & Toth, 2014, p. 1469). This statement was found to be very significant to nursing/healthcare because it was aimed at gaining a greater qualitative insight into a topic that has received

Maternal race is one of the most analysed, robust, and puzzling findings in the epidemiology of prematurity. It is believed that African-American women are two to three times more likely than white women to deliver preterm and this space appears to have been broadening in recent years, as rates of preterm birth decrease faster for white women than for black women. Many epidemiological studies have analysed whether this racial divergence in preterm and low birthweight rates can be explained by maternal age, education, lifestyle, and socio-economic position. Although, these factors explain only a small percentage of the racial

As stated in the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 3.4% of non-Indigenous Australian females have type 2 diabetes (2011). In comparison Indigenous Australian females have a high prevalence for type 2 diabetes, with 7% of the Indigenous female population reported with the disease in 2009. (ABS, 2011). From this information we can see that Indigenous Australian females are more likely to have type 2 diabetes. From the information it can be said they females with type 2 diabetes are likely to be overweight, due to low physical activity and poor

One article that was found in the databases was an article called Induction of Labor Compared to Expectant Management in Low-risk Women and Associated Perinatal Outcomes. The authors stated that the purpose of this research was to examine the

Firstly, the number of participants in this study was small. This small sample is mainly because of the different stages of pregnancy and delivery dates of the mothers, the time limitations on this study due to funding as well as recruitment. Although many women fall pregnant in New Zealand yearly, not all are open to assist in research projects especially when it includes specific criteria.