Soo Downe – författare

Qualitative research, particularly phenomenology, is increasingly popular as a method for midwifery and health-related research. These approaches enable rich and detailed explanations to be uncovered and bring experience to life. Important recommendations and practice- based implications may then be raised and debated for future use. This book brings together a range of phenomenological methods and insights into one accessible text. Illustrated with plenty of examples of successful phenomenological research, Qualitative Research in Midwifery and Childbirth keeps the focus applied to midwifery and childbirth and makes clear the links to practice throughout. The book introduces three key phenomenological approaches – descriptive, interpretive and the life world – and includes a comparative chapter which discusses the differences between these varied perspectives and methods. Each chapter focuses on how these approaches are used within midwifery research. The remaining chapters present a number of different research projects. These demonstrate how different phenomenological approaches have been used to explore and uncover experiences of childbirth and maternity as well as offering important insights into how women experience different facets of the birth experience during the antenatal, intra-partum and postnatal period.Designed for researchers and students undertaking research projects on midwifery and childbirth, this text includes contributions from a range of international and highly regarded phenomenological authors and researchers.

Qualitative research, particularly phenomenology, is increasingly popular as a method for midwifery and health-related research. These approaches enable rich and detailed explanations to be uncovered and bring experience to life. Important recommendations and practice- based implications may then be raised and debated for future use. This book brings together a range of phenomenological methods and insights into one accessible text. Illustrated with plenty of examples of successful phenomenological research, Qualitative Research in Midwifery and Childbirth keeps the focus applied to midwifery and childbirth and makes clear the links to practice throughout. The book introduces three key phenomenological approaches – descriptive, interpretive and the life world – and includes a comparative chapter which discusses the differences between these varied perspectives and methods. Each chapter focuses on how these approaches are used within midwifery research. The remaining chapters present a number of different research projects. These demonstrate how different phenomenological approaches have been used to explore and uncover experiences of childbirth and maternity as well as offering important insights into how women experience different facets of the birth experience during the antenatal, intra-partum and postnatal period.Designed for researchers and students undertaking research projects on midwifery and childbirth, this text includes contributions from a range of international and highly regarded phenomenological authors and researchers.

Intrapartum care has undergone profound changes over the past fifty years. Essential Midwifery Practice: Intrapartum Care takes a broad sweep to examine these changes and their intersection with midwifery, in particular their impact on the midwife’s role during labour and birth. It is an invaluable guide for all midwives.Essential Midwifery Practice: Intrapartum Care addresses a wide range of topics including the evolution of intrapartum care, debates about knowledge, and childbirth education. It looks at birth environments, labour rhythms, working with pain, normal birth, unusual labours, and complementary therapies. Written by key experts and providing guidance on best practice, this unique and diverse text will bring readers up-to-date with the latest research and reflection in their specialist fields. Written by key experts in their respective fields coming together for the first timeProvides comprehensive examination of normal birth practiceEvidence-based, bringing you up-to-date with the latest research

Leadership, expertise, and collaborative working are fundamental aspects of efficient and effective healthcare. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the general theories, principles and points of good practice in each of these three areas. This general literature is then contextualised by theoretical and practical implications for maternity care, and illustrated with in-depth case studies of successful innovation and change in practice. Essential reading for all midwives, midwifery students, and others working in or studying maternity care, this book helps readers understand the theoretical underpinnings of effective leadership, expertise and collaborative ways of working.Special features: Part of the acclaimed Essential Midwifery Practice seriesA theoretical and practical exploration of the nature and application of leadership, expertise and collaborative working in midwiferyProvides inspirational case studies of change and innovationBrings together national and international experts in the field

Service user and carer engagement in health and social care, and in the education of practitioners in this area, is emerging as one of the most important new drivers within government policy in a number of countries. However, beyond the rhetoric, there are few guides that address the practicalities of setting up and running such a project. This book is unique in that it will appeal to practitioners, policy makers, and commissioners in health and social care practice and education who buy in to the principles of service user engagement, but who find it hard to know how to progress the practicalities. Based on the set up and running of the unique and very successful Comensus project, this practical and accessible text will provide a framework for building authentic and sustainable community engagement in health and social care education and practice.

For many years there has been growing concern about the culture of fear that is penetrating maternity services throughout the world, and that the fear felt by maternity care workers is directly and indirectly being transferred to the women and families they serve. The consequences of fear includes increased risk of defensive practice, where the woman and her family become potential enemies to those providing her care. In addition, the prevailing risk management and 'tick box' culture in maternity services encourages maternity workers to give priority to the records instead of the childbearing woman. These factors contribute to the dissatisfaction felt by those using and providing maternity services, and the apparent lack of kindness and respect. There is however increasing evidence that kindness, compassion and mutual respect improves efficiency, effectiveness, experience and staff morale within healthcare settings. The Roar Behind the Silence provides information, inspiration and practical suggestions to support maternity care workers, policy makers, and maternity care funders across the world in their quest to deliver sensitive, compassionate and high quality maternity services.The book highlights examples of good practice, and practical tools for making change happen, using evidence and stories where appropriate. Edited by Sheena Byrom & Soo Downe, with contributions by Hana Ruth Abel, Maria Helena Bastos, Dean Beaumont, Dianne Bowser, Anna Byrom, Sheena Byrom, Penny Campling, Michael Clift, Hannah Dahlen, Raymond de Vries, Soo Downe, Ngai Fen Cheung, Julie Frohlich, Kathryn Guttridge, Jennifer Hall, Shelagh Heneghan, Milli Hill, Billie Hunter, Mavis Kirkham, Mande Limbu, Amali Lokugamage, Kerstin Uvnas Moberg, Mercedes Perez-Botella, Gill Phillips, Elizabeth Prochaska, Progress Theatre Group, Rineke Schram, Anna Ternovszky, Lucie Warren and Robin Youngson.

New Thinking on Improving Maternity Care is the result of years of comparative international research, with the goal of finding and generating the best possible evidence across a range of childbirth practices, contexts, and issues in Europe. There is a general shift towards a more risk-averse approach to childbirth globally, but this is occurring at different rates in population attitudes and in use of childbirth technologies, in different countries. The drivers to such changes can also vary from country to country, but the clinical, social and economic consequences are similar.This book offers a new set of theories to help explain the nature of maternity care provision across Europe and beyond, including complexity theory, salutogenesis, and new concepts of organisational culture. The aim of the book is to examine the nature of these theories, and to apply them to a range of practical situations in a number of different countries. A fascinating book, that will become required reading for European maternity professionals.

Squaring the Circle is a cutting-edge and comprehensive collection of the latest research and debate on normal childbirth. Based on a salutogenic approach – focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease – it helps our understanding of what works and why it works, as well as helping health practitioners turn this knowledge into best practice.Written by world-renowned experts in their field, and edited by Soo Downe and Sheena Byrom, the editors of the acclaimed The Roar Behind the Silence, Squaring the Circle includes an examination of a range of associated evidence in areas as diverse as architecture for optimal birth environments, the impact of birth events on neonatal DNA methylation and the microbiome, the current knowledge base around oxytocin production in labour, and the role of emotion in the workplace.Case studies of successful change from around the world – from service users, activists and maternity care staff – provide inspiration for innovation while hints and tips help to make such change happen.