Self reported fear of childbirth and its association with women's birth experience and mode of delivery: A longitudinal population-based study

ObjectiveTo explore fear of childbirth (FOC) during pregnancy and one year after birth and its association to birth experience and mode of delivery.DesignA longitudinal population-based study.PopulationPregnant women who were listed for a routine ultrasound at three hospitals in the middle-north part of Sweden.MethodDifferences between women who reported FOC and who did not were calculated using risk ratios with a 95% confidence interval. In order to explain which factors were most strongly associated to suffer from FOC during pregnancy and one year after childbirth, multivariate logistic regression analyses were used.ResultsFOC during pregnancy in multiparous women was associated with a previous negative birth experience (RR 5.1, CI 2.5–10.4) and a previous emergency caesarean section (RR 2.5, CI 1.2–5.4). Associated factors for FOC one year after childbirth were: a negative birth experience (RR 10.3, CI 5.1–20.7), fear of childbirth during pregnancy (RR 7.1, CI 4.4–11.7), emergency caesarean section (RR 2.4, CI 1.2–4.5) and primiparity (RR 1.9, CI 1.2–3.1).ConclusionFOC was associated with negative birth experiences. Women still perceived the birth experience as negative a year after the event. Women's perception of the overall birth experience as negative seems to be more important for explaining subsequent FOC than mode of delivery. Maternity care should focus on women's experiences of childbirth. Staff at antenatal clinics should ask multiparous women about their previous experience of childbirth. So that FOC is minimized, research on factors that create a positive birth experience for women is required.     

Illness-death model: statistical perspective and differential equations

The aim of this work is to relate the theory of stochastic processes with the differential equations associated with multistate (compartment) models. We show that the Kolmogorov Forward Differential Equations can be used to derive a relation between the prevalence and the transition rates in the illness-death model. Then, we prove mathematical well-definedness and epidemiological meaningfulness of the prevalence of the disease. As an application, we derive the incidence of diabetes from a series of cross-sections.     

A comparison of perceived health, attitudes to work, leisure time, and social welfare systems among people in a rural area in the north of Sweden and among people in the city of Stockholm

A problem attracting considerable attention in Sweden today is the substantial regional differences in sickness absence. The aim of the study was to investigate and compare how people, from a random sample of the population in both a rural area in the north of Sweden and the Swedish capital Stockholm, perceive their health, and what their attitudes are to work, leisure time and social welfare systems. Results showed that a larger proportion of those answering in Stockholm considered their health status to be "very good", compared with those in the rural area (p<0.0001). A majority in the rural area compared to the city of Stockholm reported a high or very high level of aches/pain (p<0.0001) and that work causes them physical problems p<0.0001). The population in both Stockholm and the rural area is of the opinion that the increase in sickness absence is mainly due to deterioration in the work environment. Almost half of the individuals in both the rural area and in Stockholm are of the opinion that many of those sick-listed are not actually ill. It may be that in the rural area in north Sweden people are more inclined to put their opinions to practice than those in Stockholm are.     

Cultures of unwelcome: Understanding the everyday histories of exclusionary practices – A view from across the German border

This article sheds light on the socio-cultural dynamics Merkel's open-door policy set in motion in Austria. Based on the Anti-Merkel discourses that came to infiltrate Austrian mainstream politics, it will show how the summer of displacements 2015 led to a pronounced move to the right. While many commentators have tended to link the post-2015 triumph of reactionary parties to the sense of crisis caused by the few months the European Union opened its borders to asylum seekers, the article demonstrates that we need to be more careful in our analyses of the roots of exclusion. By zooming in on the everydayness of anti-cosmopolitan practices in an Austrian mountain community, it argues that if we are to understand the current backlash against liberal and cosmopolitan ideas we need to pay attention to genealogies of exclusionary practices, or ‘cultures of unwelcome’.     

Exploring the Fear of Birth Scale in a mixed population of women of childbearing age—A Swedish pilot study

Aim

The aim of this pilot study was to explore the Fear of Birth Scale in a mixed sample of women of childbearing age, by investigating the levels of childbirth fear and the content of women’s thoughts when completing the scale.

Interaktionsanalyse in Gruppen: Anwendung und Herausforderungen

The systematic observation of groups is an important step towards understanding how people work together. How do groups make decisions? Which solutions prevail? Or which behaviors indicate who is perceived as the group leader? Since the 1950s, interaction analysis is used to describe how group processes unfold. Fundamental to interaction analysis is the detailed coding of specific group behaviors. In this article, we first provide a guideline describing the necessary steps for carrying out interaction analysis in groups, both for research and practice purposes. Next, we present findings from an exemplary field study which highlight the added value of interaction analytical methods for describing group processes. The article closes with an outlook on future challenges and a discussion about how the collaboration between research and practice can be improved.     

Generalized mean squared error properties of regression estimators

Theobald (1974) compares Ordinary Least Squares and Ridge Regression estimators of regression parameters using a generalized mean squared error criterion. This paper presents the generalized mean squared error of a Principal Components Regression estimator and comparisons are made with each of the above estimators. In general the choice of which estimator to use depends on the magnitude and the orientation of the unknown parameter vector.     

Voluntarism in Urban Regeneration: Civic,Charity or Hybrid? Experiences from Danish Area-Based Interventions

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Area-based initiatives (ABIs) is a frequently used strategy within contemporary urban regeneration policies to tackle...     

Pension reforms and gender: The case of Sweden

This article analyzes the effects of pension reform for men and women by comparing the outcomes in the system after reform to the outcomes under the prior system. The authors also study the incentive effects on labor supply. The size of the labor force, however, is also influenced by the rules for retirement, social insurance programs (e.g., sickness insurance and unemployment insurance), collective bargaining agreements, and seniority rules. Using a simulation model, the authors compare women's pension benefits and contributions to those of men in the new Swedish system and in the old. The analysis includes simulating the wage and employment histories of representative men and women and the pension benefits these are likely to generate under the old and new rules. After showing the results of this model, the authors describe and discuss the supplementary pension systems, that is, the negotiated collective agreement schemes and different pathways to retirement. Based on empirical evidence from Swedish and Latin America simulated data, the final section of the article discusses gender impact of pension rules and how to design pension, systems to ensure adequate pension benefits for both women and men.