Objective: A trend analysis of associations with induced abortion.
Methods: Secondary analysis of the 1973/78 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health of women responding to two or more consecutive surveys out of five (N=9,042), using generalised estimating equations.
Results: New abortions dropped from 7% to 2% at surveys 4 and 5.
Women seeking healthcare while experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) often report a mismatch between healthcare received and desired. An increase in detection of women experiencing IPV through routine screening has not consistently shown a parallel increase in uptake of referrals or decreased abuse. This study investigates relationships between women's stage of change (SOC), mental health, abuse, social support, and self-efficacy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Breastfeeding has significant health benefits for mothers and infants. Despite recommendations from the WHO, by 6 months of age 40% of Australian infants are receiving no breast milk. Increased early postpartum breastfeeding support may improve breastfeeding maintenance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAust N Z J Public Health
April 2015
Objectives: To determine differences in reproductive health and infant and child mortality and health between abused and non-abused ever-married women in Timor-Leste.
Methods: Secondary data analysis of Timor-Leste Demographic Health Survey (1,959 ever-married women aged 15-49 years). Associations with violence estimated using multinomial logistic regression adjusted for sociodemographic variables and age of first intercourse.
Background: Breastfeeding is associated with significant positive health outcomes for mothers and infants. However, despite recommendations from the World Health Organization, exclusive breastfeeding for six months is uncommon. Increased breastfeeding support early in the postpartum period may be effective in improving breastfeeding maintenance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Intimate partner violence is a major public health problem. It occurs commonly in pregnancy, resulting in adverse events for women and their fetus or children. The objective of this study was to examine the association between intimate partner violence and very preterm birth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Obstet Gynecol Scand
February 2012
Objective: To investigate the relation of prior intracervical procedures with very preterm birth.
Design: A population-based case-control study.
Setting: The study was conducted in Australia between 2002 and 2004.
Background: Effective interventions to increase safety and wellbeing of mothers experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) are scarce. As much attention is focussed on professional intervention, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of non-professional mentor support in reducing IPV and depression among pregnant and recent mothers experiencing, or at risk of IPV.
Methods: MOSAIC was a cluster randomised trial in 106 primary care (maternal and child health nurse and general practitioner) clinics in Melbourne, Australia.
Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol
September 2010
The prevalence and intractability of preterm birth is known as is its association with reproductive history, but the relationship with sequence of pregnancies is not well studied. The data were from a population-based case-control study, conducted in Victoria, Australia. The study recruited women giving birth between April 2002 and April 2004 from 73 maternity hospitals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPaediatr Perinat Epidemiol
September 2010
In published studies of preterm birth, analyses have usually been centred on individual reproductive events and do not account for the joint distributions of these events. In particular, spontaneous and induced abortions have often been studied separately and have been variously reported as having no increased risk, increased risk or different risks for subsequent preterm birth. In order to address this inconsistency, we categorised women into mutually exclusive groups according to their reproductive history, and explored the range of risks associated with different reproductive histories and assessed similarities of risks between different pregnancy histories.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAust N Z J Public Health
August 2010
Objective: Little is known about immigrant mothers' experiences of life with a new baby, apart from studies on maternal depression. Our objective was to compare the post-childbirth experiences of Australian-born and immigrant mothers from non-English speaking countries.
Methods: A postal survey of recent mothers at six months postpartum in Victoria (August 2000 to February 2002), enabled comparison of experiences of life with a new baby for two groups of immigrant women: those born overseas in non-English-speaking countries who reported speaking English very well (n=460); and those born overseas in non-English-speaking countries who reported speaking English less than very well (n=184) and Australian-born women (n=9,796).
Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent globally, experienced by a significant minority of women in the early childbearing years and is harmful to the mental and physical health of women and children. There are very few studies with rigorous designs which have tested the effectiveness of IPV interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of abused women. Evidence for the separate benefit to victims of social support, advocacy and non-professional mentoring suggested that a combined model may reduce the levels of violence, the associated mental health damage and may increase a woman's health, safety and connection with her children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Termination of pregnancy is a common and safe medical procedure in countries where it is legal. One in four Australian women terminates a pregnancy, most often when young. There is inconclusive evidence about whether pregnancy termination affects women's rates of depression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPregnancy history formulae usually provide only summaries of numbers of pregnancies and births. Different pregnancy outcomes and their sequence are not captured. A new pregnancy history formula is proposed where one number provides information on parity, gravidity, sequence, gestation and outcome of pregnancies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To describe the process involved in obtaining ethics approval for a study aiming to recruit women from all maternity hospitals in Victoria, Australia.
Design: Observational data of the application process involving 85 hospitals throughout Victoria in 2001.
Results: Twenty-three of the 85 hospitals had a Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) constituted in accordance with the National Health and Medical Council requirements; 27 agreed to accept decisions from other hospitals having HRECs and 27 relied on ethics advisory committees, hospital managers, clinical staff, quality assurance committees or lawyers for ethics decisions.
Objectives: to present issues associated with recruitment of women in maternity hospitals to a population-based case-control study of very preterm birth.
Design: a descriptive study of the recruitment process.
Setting: all maternity hospitals, including three providing neonatal intensive care services, in Victoria, Australia from April 2002 to April 2004.
The associations between colorectal cancer risk and several chronic illnesses, operations and various medications were examined in 715 colorectal cancer cases and 727 age- and sex-matched controls in data derived from a large, comprehensive population-based study of this cancer conducted in Melbourne, Australia. There was a statistically significant deficit among cases of hypertension, heart disease, stroke, chronic chest disease and chronic arthritis and a statistically significant excess of 'haemorrhoids' among cases, and all of these differences were consistent for both colon and rectal cancers and for both males and females. Although no statistically significant differences were found for other cancers, there were twice as many breast cancers among cases (16) than among controls (8) and also there were 9 uterine cancers among cases and only 2 among controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This paper estimates the relation between women's experience of violence and the age of menarche, first sexual intercourse, and first birth.
Methods: The data are from the Younger Cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, which includes 9,683 women, aged between 22 and 27 years in 2000, who responded to surveys in both 1996 and 2000.
Results: In 1996, 9% of women reported current or previous partner violence and a further 5% reported it in 2000.
Objective: To examine the associations between termination and other reproductive events, socio-demographic characteristics and experience of violence among a community-based national sample of young Australian women.
Methods: Using multiple logistic regression, we analysed data from the Younger cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health comprising 14,776 young women aged 18-23 in survey 1 (1996), of whom 9,683 aged 22-27 also responded to survey 2 (2000). We stratified respondents into those aged below 20 and those who were older at survey 1.
This paper describes an evaluation study that aimed to assess data collection processes in a population-based case-control study of very preterm birth. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the 10 research interviewers to determine their perceptions of the hypotheses, the differences between interviewing cases and controls and between modes of interview, their reactions to questions which they had to ask in interviews and their training. Time and cost of the collection of data were also considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examined the experience of cesarean birth among 67 Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese women who are now living in Melbourne, Australia, based on a larger ethnographic research project on childbearing, childrearing and motherhood among Southeast Asian women in Australia. We found a range of responses in the discourses of the women: some women preferred cesarean birth, but others resisted it. Women's social construction of their feelings stemmed from three interpretive frameworks: trust in medical knowledge, expectations (personal ideology of reproduction and motherhood) and communication with an understanding of their caregivers' preferences (as opposed to choice).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAust N Z J Public Health
February 2006
Objectives: To determine the proportion of women who took folate supplementation prior to conception and in the first three months of pregnancy and/or increased folate dietary intake; to determine how folate supplementation varied with socio-demographic factors; and to describe the ways women had seen or heard about folate prior to pregnancy.
Methods: Two population-based surveys were used: the Victorian Survey of Recent Mothers 2000 and the 2001 NSW Child Health Survey.
Results: Thirty-six per cent of women in Victoria reported taking periconceptional folate supplements compared with 46% in NSW.
Objective: This study aimed to investigate associations between violence and younger women's reproductive events using Survey 1 (1996) data of the Younger cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (ALSWH).
Methods: Multinomial regression, using composite variables for both violence and reproductive events, adjusting for socioeconomic variables and weighted for rural and remote areas.
Results: 23.
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