Multiparous women's confidence to have a publicly-funded homebirth: a qualitative study

Background

Hospital birth is commonly thought to be a safer option than homebirth, despite many studies showing similar rates of safety for low risk mothers and babies when cared for by qualified midwives with systems of back-up in place. Recently in Australia, demand has led to the introduction of a small number of publicly-funded homebirth programs. Women's confidence in having a homebirth through a publicly-funded homebirth program in Australia has not yet been explored.

Aim

The aim of the study was to explore the reasons why multiparous women feel confident to have a homebirth within a publicly-funded model of care in Australia.

Methods

Ten multiparous English-speaking women who chose to have a homebirth with the St George Hospital Homebirth Program were interviewed in the postnatal period using semi-structured, open-ended questions. Interviews were transcribed, then a thematic analysis was undertaken.

Results

Women, having already experienced a normal birth, demonstrated a strong confidence in their ability to give birth at home and described a confidence in their bodies, their midwives, and the health system. Women weighed up the risks of homebirth through information they gathered and integration with their previous experience of birth, their family support and self-confidence.

Discussion

Women choosing publicly-funded homebirth display strong confidence in both themselves to give birth at home, and their belief in the health system's ability to cope with any complications that may arise.

Implications for practice

Many women may benefit from access to publicly-funded homebirth models of care. This should be further investigated.     

Life Shocks and Crime: A Test of the “Turning Point” Hypothesis

Other researchers have posited that important events in men's lives-such as employment, marriage, and parenthood-strengthen their social ties and lead them to refrain from crime. A challenge in empirically testing this hypothesis has been the issue of self-selection into life transitions. This study contributes to this literature by estimating the effects of an exogenous life shock on crime. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, augmented with information from hospital medical records, to estimate the effects of the birth of a child with a severe health problem on the likelihood that the infant's father engages in illegal activities. We conduct a number of auxiliary analyses to examine exogeneity assumptions. We find that having an infant born with a severe health condition increases the likelihood that the father is convicted of a crime in the three-year period following the birth of the child, and at least part of the effect appears to operate through work and changes in parental relationships. These results provide evidence that life events can cause crime and, as such, support the "turning point" hypothesis.     

The problems of eligibility and endogenous confounders when assessing the mortality impact of a nationwide disease-prevention programme: the case of insecticide-treated nets in Togo

Evaluation of the mortality impact of nationwide disease-prevention efforts is complicated by potential endogeneity: programme recipients may have unobserved characteristics that simultaneously make them both more likely to become recipients and more likely to survive as a result of other health practices. This population-based study assesses the mortality impact of a nationwide programme that distributed insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to mothers of children aged 9-59 months in Togo. By comparing mortality rates before and after the programme according to households' eligibility status, we demonstrate that a one-time programme that restricts eligibility to households with a surviving child excludes some households with a high risk of child mortality. We then apply simultaneous estimation models to untangle the mortality impact of ITNs from the effects of unobserved confounders and show that among eligible households, living in a household with ITNs significantly reduces mortality for children aged 20-59 months, even after controlling for endogeneity.     

Estimating the Effect of the One-Child Policy on the Sex Ratio Imbalance in China: Identification Based on the Difference-in-Differences

In China, the male-biased sex ratio has increased significantly. Because the one-child policy applies only to the Han Chinese but not to minorities, this unique affirmative policy allows us to identify the causal effect of the one-child policy on the increase in sex ratios by using a difference-in-differences (DD) estimator. Using the 1990 census, we find that the strict enforcement of the one-child policy led to 4.4 extra boys per 100 girls in the 1980s, accounting for about 94% of the total increase in sex ratios during this period. The robust tests indicate that the estimated policy effect is not likely confounded by other omitted policy shocks or socioeconomic changes. Moreover, we conduct the DD estimation using both the 2000 census and the 2005 mini-census. Our estimates suggest that the one-child policy resulted in about 7.0 extra boys per 100 girls for the 1991–2005 birth cohorts. The effect of the one-child policy accounts for about 57% and 54% of the total increases in sex ratios for the 1991–2000 and 2001–2005 birth cohorts, respectively.     

农业产业化还是农业生态学:21世纪的挑战

现代农业或农业产业化,取得了令人瞩目的成就,但它是不可持续的,不能在今后的100年继续发展.中国已做好准备发展一种在社会及环境方面都很和谐的农业,即农业生态学.农业生态学的基本需求是:环境上可持续,有益于公正和社会和谐,农业实践在经济上是可行的.可持续农业的发展必须被看成21世纪要给予优先关注的挑战.     

论不朽

不朽问题既是现实人生的终极关注点,也是西方哲学、宗教、神学的核心问题之一。本文立足于过程哲学的基本立场和研究视角,通过指出不朽与必死性的相互关系,强调宇宙本身就是由分别体现这两者的、以多样性和积极创造为特征的“活动世界”和以持续为特征的“价值世界”构成的,系统而概括地论述了不朽与价值、估价、理念、人格同一性乃至与作为对多种人格的统一过程而实际存在的上帝的关系,充分强调不朽的价值世界的功能就在于,通过人格同一性对事实世界的多样性进行调整和协调,从而使宇宙的本质性统一过程能够体现出来;最后,它通过对欧洲哲学和神学传统中由来已久的、关于“独立实存”的抽象预设的批判,强调指出哲学研究根本不能片面追求精确性,从而对作者的过程哲学研究生涯做出了最后的总结。     

网络修辞学：超阅读与批判素养

链接是网络超文本结构中最核心的要素,指的是将一个超文本呈现为有意义的联系的语义网络的基本结构,它包含着一些形形色色的修辞类型,如隐喻、转喻、提喻、夸张、反复、同一、顺序和因果以及词语误用等。与传统文本的阅读或写作依赖于提纲式和三段论的原则不同,网络超文本开放了拼装和并置文本的可能性。网络是庞大和包揽一切的,读者必须学会批判性超阅读。     

走向社会主义多元化

既然有民族和文化的多元化,那么就将有社会主义的多元化.利益多元主义是其理论基础,在这个基础上,作者从对社会主义世界历史进程的回顾和反思中,批驳了传统的社会主义单一模式给实际历史过程所带来的后果和不利因素,论述了社会主义必然走上多元化的客观依据.(1)计划和自我管理.从以下三个方面论述这一问题:合理计划必然具有多样性;由于人们的社会需求复杂和多变,决定了"市场"的多种含义;在实际工作过程中,物质上的和事实上的不平等,导致了既在社会阶级内又超出阶级范围的财富转让的复杂问题.在此基础上,作者论述了社会主义计划     

社会主义经济体系的矛盾是该体系发展的源泉

苏联哲学家和经济学家对社会主义制度下矛盾问题的讨论大致可分为三个阶段:第一阶段(30-40年代)的特点是,否认社会主义制度下的对立及其斗争.在第二阶段(40年代末-50年代初),则承认在社会主义生产中有可能出现矛盾,但这个阶段还没有把矛盾看作是经常的和新社会制度本身所固有的.到了第三阶段,承认社会主义制度上矛盾是不可避免性的,但在这一问题上还有一些不正确的提法.例如,认为社会主义社会的生产力和生产关系是完全适应的,将生产方式这些方面的矛盾归     

中国奇迹的背后

中国突然一跃成为世界上主要的经济力量之一,这引起了世界上其他国家的羡慕与恐慌。在中国的经济改革过程中,政治和社会的改革进程被远远抛在了后面,这使中国的经济改革出现了两个意想不到的结果。第一,政府在经济改革过程中非常偏好国有企业,给它们获得资本、技术和市场的优先权;同时,改革也非常偏好外国投资,给予它们中国出口和国内市场的最大份额。这导致了中国的产业被效率低下但规模庞大的国有企业和实力渐强的外国企业所统治,已经有20年发展历史的私营部门仍然无法成为任何一方的竞争对手。第二,中国存在一种源于尚未改革的政治体制的…