Implementing a colostrum-kit reduces the time to first colostrum for neonates admitted to the NICU - a retrospective observational study.

Background: The World Health Organisation states that newborns should receive colostrum as soon as possible after birth. However, among newborns needing neonatal intensive care, initiation of lactation and access to colostrum might be delayed. At the centre of this study, a tertiary care hospital in Sweden (10,000 deliveries/year), few admitted infants received colostrum within the day of birth, warranting a quality improvement.

Trends in the quality of maternal and neonatal care in Sweden and Norway as compared to 12 WHO European countries: A cross-sectional survey investigating maternal perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Maternal-neonatal healthcare services were severely disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic in even high-income countries within the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. The objective of this study was to compare trends in the quality of maternal and neonatal care (QMNC) in Sweden and Norway to 12 other countries from the WHO European Region during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify domains for improvement.

Material And Methods: This cross-sectional study included women giving birth in Europe from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

Set aside-A qualitative study of partners' experiences of pregnancy, labour, and postnatal care in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Due to changes in Swedish maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic, partners were often excluded from antenatal and postnatal care.

Aim: To explore partners' experiences of pregnancy, labour, and postnatal care in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Methods: A descriptive qualitative interview study with 15 partners of women who gave birth from March 2020 to March 2022.

Health workers' perspectives on the quality of maternal and newborn health care around the time of childbirth: Results of the Improving MAternal Newborn carE in the EURO Region (IMAgiNE EURO) project in 12 countries of the World Health Organization European Region.

Background: Health workers' (HWs') perspectives on the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) are not routinely collected. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to document HWs' perspectives on QMNC around childbirth in 12 World Health Organization (WHO) European countries.

Methods: HWs involved in maternal/neonatal care for at least one year between March 2020 and March 2023 answered an online validated WHO standards-based questionnaire collecting 40 quality measures for improving QMNC.

A qualitative study of the experience of doula support to women in socially disadvantaged positions in Sweden: The voices of women and doulas.

Background: Women in socially disadvantaged positions face increased risk of fear of birth, birth complications, and postpartum depression, highlighting the need for targeted interventions for this group. Doula support is associated with positive emotional and medical outcomes for mother and child. Experience of doula support for women in socially disadvantaged positions in Sweden remains unexplored.

Glycemic control assessed by continuous glucose monitoring during pregnancy in women with type 1 diabetes and its association with preeclampsia, an observational Swedish cohort study.

Introduction: Women with type 1 diabetes have an increased risk of preeclampsia (PE), but it is not fully understood if degree of glycemic control is associated with this risk. The aim of this study was to assess glycemic control during pregnancy analyzed by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in women with and without PE and to investigate if glycemic control is associated with increased risk of PE.

Material And Methods: A total of 120 pregnant Swedish women with type 1 diabetes using CGM were included.

The impact of exclusion due to COVID-19 restrictions on partners' satisfaction with Swedish hospital postnatal ward care: A multi-methods approach.

Background: To prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, hospitals around the world adopted protocols that, in varying ways, resulted in the exclusion of partners from hospital postnatal care wards. The objective of this study was to examine the effect this exclusion had on partners' satisfaction with postnatal care.

Methods: An online survey (the Swedish Pregnancy Panel) including free-text comments was conducted before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic; partners of pregnant women were recruited at an early ultrasound appointment and followed until 2 months after childbirth.

"If I blink twice everything is OK" - A qualitative study of Swedish midwives' strategies for supporting birthing women while working in full personal protective equipment.

Problem: Midwives all over the world have had to adapt to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The issue of how they managed to support birthing women, despite the use of PPE, has been insufficiently studied.

Background: Midwives support birthing women in one of their most life-changing situations.

Intersectionality in nursing research: A systematic review.

Aim: This systematic literature review aimed to identify, appraise and synthesize available research studies that apply intersectionality in nursing research.

Design: Systematic review.

Data Sources: Empirical and theoretical nursing studies published before February 2022 were identified from the PubMed and CINAHL databases.

The experience of being a partner to a childbearing woman whose pregnancy is complicated by pre-eclampsia: A Swedish qualitative study.

Background: Pre-eclampsia affects 3-5% of all pregnant women and is among the leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality as well as iatrogenic preterm birth worldwide. Little is known about the experience of partners of women whose pregnancy is complicated by pre-eclampsia.

Aim: To describe partners' experience of having a spouse whose pregnancy was complicated by pre-eclampsia.

The COPE Staff study: Study description and initial report regarding job satisfaction, work-life conflicts, stress, and burnout among Swedish maternal and neonatal healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To describe the study design of the COPE Staff cohort study on working conditions for maternal and neonatal healthcare workers (MNHCWs), and present baseline data regarding job satisfaction, work-life conflicts, stress, and burnout.

Methods: Between January and April 2021, 957 MNHCWs (administrative and medical staff) completed a baseline survey. Average levels of job satisfaction, work-life conflicts, stress, and burnout, and associations to perceived workload were assessed.

A Longitudinal Dyadic Study of Six Leisure Activities in Swedish Couples During the Transition to Parenthood.

Parents are not only caregivers to their children; they also have leisure routines that can impact their own well-being. However, little is known about how leisure activities change within the context of a couple during the transition to parenthood. This study uses latent growth curve models and data from the Swedish Pregnancy Panel to examine how often 918 first-time, heterosexual couples participated in six leisure activities from around pregnancy week 19 to one year postpartum.

Quality of maternal and newborn care around the time of childbirth for migrant versus nonmigrant women during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results of the IMAgiNE EURO study in 11 countries of the WHO European region.

Objective: To describe the perception of quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) around the time of childbirth among migrant and nonmigrant women in Europe.

Methods: Women who gave birth at a health facility in 11 countries of the WHO European Region from March 2020 to July 2021 were invited to answer an online questionnaire including demographics and childbirth experience. Data were analyzed and compared for 1781 migrant and 20 653 nonmigrant women.

Rates of instrumental vaginal birth and cesarean and quality of maternal and newborn health care in private versus public facilities: Results of the IMAgiNE EURO study in 16 countries.

Objective: To explore the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) during the COVID-19 pandemic by facility type among 16 European countries, comparing rates of instrumental vaginal birth and cesarean.

Methods: Women who gave birth in the WHO European Region from March 1, 2020, to February 7, 2022, answered a validated online questionnaire. Rates of instrumental birth, instrumental vaginal birth, and cesarean, and a QMNC index were calculated for births in public versus private facilities.

Individual and country-level variables associated with the medicalization of birth: Multilevel analyses of IMAgiNE EURO data from 15 countries in the WHO European region.

Objective: To investigate potential associations between individual and country-level factors and medicalization of birth in 15 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Online anonymous survey of women who gave birth in 2020-2021. Multivariable multilevel logistic regression models estimating associations between indicators of medicalization (cesarean, instrumental vaginal birth [IVB], episiotomy, fundal pressure) and proxy variables related to care culture and contextual factors at the individual and country level.

Factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding at discharge during the COVID-19 pandemic in 17 WHO European Region countries.

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding is the optimal infant nutrition, providing infants immunoprotection against many diseases including SARS-CoV-2 infection. Restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may have negatively affected breastfeeding practices in maternity care facilities. The aims of the study were to examine exclusive breastfeeding rates at discharge over time and to identify factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding during the pandemic.

Expectant parents' emotions evoked by pregnancy: A longitudinal dyadic analysis of couples in the Swedish Pregnancy Panel.

Rationale: Holistic antenatal care requires knowledge of individuals' emotional response to pregnancy. Little is known about how a pregnant woman and her partner influence each other emotionally during a pregnancy.

Objective: This study examines six discrete emotions that expectant couples experience during pregnancy, how these emotions change mid-to late-pregnancy, and whether the partners' emotional responses influence each other.

Challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the Obstetrics and Gynecology residency program: a mixed-methods Swedish survey in the COPE Staff cohort study.

Background: To outline how the training program and work situation of residents in Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB-GYN) was affected by the pandemic and to illuminate how residents experienced these changes.

Methods: As part of the COVID-19 in Pregnancy and Early Childhood Staff (COPE Staff) cohort study, between January and May 2021, all participating residents were invited to answer a 28-question online Resident Survey focusing on their specialist education, work situation and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistics were given in percentages for categorical variables and means and standard deviations (SD) for continuous variables.

Working conditions for hospital-based maternity and neonatal health care workers during extraordinary situations - A pre-/post COVID-19 pandemic analysis and lessons learned.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate how the changed work routines during the COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the working environment for hospital-based maternity and neonatal health care workers, and to identify preventive measures to be used in future situations when health care organizations are under pressure.

Methods: All maternity and neonatal health care workers in a Swedish university hospital were surveyed during October 2019 and September 2020. The data was analyzed by document analysis of implemented changes in working routines, a quantitative analysis of the overall effects on the working conditions, and a qualitative analysis of open-ended responses.

WHO Standards-based questionnaire to measure health workers' perspective on the quality of care around the time of childbirth in the WHO European region: development and mixed-methods validation in six countries.

Objectives: Develop and validate a WHO Standards-based online questionnaire to measure the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) around the time of childbirth from the health workers' perspective.

Design: Mixed-methods study.

Setting: Six countries of the WHO European Region.

Large gaps in the quality of healthcare experienced by Swedish mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study based on WHO standards.

Background And Problem: Existing healthcare systems have been put under immense pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disruptions in essential maternal and newborn services have come from even high-income countries within the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region.

Aim: To describe the quality of care during pregnancy and childbirth, as reported by the women themselves, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, using the WHO 'Standards for improving quality of maternal and newborn care in health facilities'.

Quality of facility-based maternal and newborn care around the time of childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic: online survey investigating maternal perspectives in 12 countries of the WHO European Region.

Background: Multi-country studies assessing the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) during the COVID-19 pandemic, as defined by WHO Standards, are lacking.

Methods: Women who gave birth in 12 countries of the WHO European Region from March 1, 2020 - March 15, 2021 answered an online questionnaire, including 40 WHO Standard-based Quality Measures.

Findings: 21,027 mothers were included in the analysis.

Study protocol: establishment of a multicentre pre-eclampsia database and biobank in Sweden: GO PROVE and UP MOST, a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Pre-eclampsia, a multisystem disorder in pregnancy, is one of the most common causes of maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, we lack methods for objective assessment of organ function in pre-eclampsia and predictors of organ impairment during and after pre-eclampsia. The women's and their partners' experiences of pre-eclampsia have not been studied in detail.