Mobile technologies and communication strategies in an urban Midwifery Group Practice setting. An exploratory study

BackgroundAround-the-clock access to a known midwife is a distinct feature of Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) and caseload midwifery settings; although the literature suggests this aspect of working life may hinder recruitment and retention to this model of care. Mobile technologies, known as mHealth where they are used in health care, facilitate access and hence communication, however little is known about this area of midwifery practice.Research questionWhich communication modalities are used, and most frequently, by MGP midwives and clients?MethodsA prospective, cross sectional design included a purposive sample of MGP midwives from an Australian tertiary maternity hospital. Data on modes of midwife–client contact were collected 24 h/day, for two consecutive weeks, and included: visits, phone-calls, texts and emails. Demographic data were also collected.FindingsDetails about 1442 midwife–client contacts were obtained. The majority of contact was via text, between the hours of 07:00 and 14:59, with primiparous women, when the primary midwife was on-call. An average of 96 contacts per fortnight occurred.ConclusionThe majority of contact was between the midwife and their primary clients, reiterating a key tenet of caseload models and confirming mobile technologies as a significant and evolving aspect of practice. The pattern of contact within social (or daytime) hours is reassuring for midwives considering caseload midwifery, who are concerned about the on-call burden. The use of text as the preferred communication modality raises issues regarding data security and retrieval, accountability, confidentiality and text management during off-duty periods. The development of Australian-wide guidelines to inform local policies and best practice is recommended.     

Contribution of forest provisioning ecosystem services to rural livelihoods in the Miombo woodlands of Zambia

This paper examines the contribution of forest provisioning ecosystem services (FPES) to rural households and assesses the contributions of forests to the annual incomes of households in Africa’s Miombo woodlands. The study employed focus group meetings, in-depth interviews, and interviews of households, as stratified by wealth class and head of household gender in Copperbelt, Zambia. The results show that FPES are vitally important in providing food, medicine, fodder, and construction materials to rural livelihoods. FPES provided 43.9 % of the average household’s income and contributed a 10 % income equalisation effect among households, as revealed by the Gini-coefficient analysis. Poorer households received a lower mean annual income from forests than did their intermediate and wealthy counterparts, but in relative terms, forest income made the greatest contribution to the total household incomes of poor households. When stratified by gender, forests contributed 44.4 and 41.8 % of the income of male- and female-headed households, respectively. The study indicates that wealth, rather than gender, was the key determinant of a household’s engagement in the sale of FPES. The inter- and intra-community differentiation in the use and sale of FPES, as revealed in this study, enables more effective targeting of forest management interventions and informs efforts to reconcile the goals of poverty reduction and forest conservation.     

Sex-specific patterns and differences in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease using informatics approaches

ABSTRACT

The National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health recently highlighted the critical need for explicitly addressing sex differences in biomedical research, including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The purpose of our study was to perform a sex-stratified analysis of cognitive impairment using diverse medical, clinical, and genetic factors of unprecedented scale and scope by applying informatics approaches to three large Alzheimer’s databases. Analyses suggested females were 1.5 times more likely than males to have a documented diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s disease, and several other factors fell along sex-specific lines and were possibly associated with severity of cognitive impairment.     

From alternative,to complementary to integrative medicine: Supporting Australian midwives in an increasingly pluralistic maternity environment

BackgroundThe use of complementary and alternative medicine during pregnancy has become increasingly popular over the past decade in Australia.AimThe purpose of this discussion paper to make recommendations and foster a constructive debate regarding the appropriate response by the midwifery profession.DiscussionMidwives should receive basic education regarding the use of complementary and alternative medicine. All women should be routinely question women about their use and this should be documented. While a few therapies could be safely integrated, in most situations interested women should be referred to a qualified practitioner. Referral frameworks and flexible clinical guidelines should be investigated.ConclusionWith the appropriate education and support, midwives are in an excellent position to engage women in open dialogue and raise awareness of the benefits and risks of CAM practices. The way forwards for midwifery profession is to focus on self-governance, education and flexible clinical guidelines.     

From Customer‐Oriented Strategy to Organizational Financial Performance: The Role of Human Resource Management and Customer‐Linking Capability

Drawing on the organizational capabilities literature, the authors developed and tested a model of how supportive human resource management (HRM) improved firms’ financial performance perceived by marketing managers through fostering the implementation of a customer‐oriented strategy. Customer‐linking capability, which is the capability in managing close customer relationships, indicated the implementation of the customer‐oriented strategy. Data collected from two emerging economies – China and Hungary – established that supportive HRM partially mediated the relationship between customer‐oriented strategy and customer‐linking capability. Customer‐linking capability further explained how supportive HRM contributed to perceived financial performance. This study explicates the implication of customer‐oriented strategy for HRM and reveals the importance of HRM in strategy implementation. It also sheds some light on the ‘black box’ between HRM and performance. While making important contributions to the field of strategy, HRM and marketing, this study also offers useful practical implications.