Men as Midwifery Professionals: A Scoping Review.

Background/introduction: Midwives provide skilled, primary, reproductive, and sexual health care to women, adolescent girls, and infants throughout the perinatal period, promoting health and safeguarding against obstetric emergencies and maternal and infant mortality. In many cultures, midwifery has been a predominantly female profession. However, in emerging research, the proportion of male midwives is growing to augment shortages of female midwives, prompting a need for further research that explores the contributions of male midwives in maternal and child health.

Autonomy and Respect in Pregnancy Care for LGBTQIA+ Families: Evaluation of a Home Visiting Program.

The purpose of this program evaluation was to gather information on proportions of LGBTQIA+ individuals and families, their needs, and care experiences in a county health department's home visiting programs for perinatal clients and to make recommendations for improving culturally competent care for LGBTQIA+ individuals and families. In this engaged scholarship partnership, home visiting nurses administered a questionnaire to perinatal clients including demographic information on sexual orientation and gender identity. Differences between LBGTQIA+ identifying individuals' perception of the perinatal care received and those of heterosexual, cisgender individuals were assessed.

Neonatal morbidity and mortality in birth centers in the United States 2018-2021: An observational study of low-risk birthing individuals.

Background: Many studies reporting neonatal outcomes in birth centers include births with risk factors not acceptable for birth center care using the evidence-based CABC criteria. Accurate comparisons of outcomes by birth setting for low-risk patients are needed.

Methods: Data from the public Natality Detailed File from 2018 to 2021 were used.

Decolonizing the midwifery curriculum: Jettisoning the Caldwell-Moloy pelvic types.

As faculty in two different midwifery education programs, we have stopped teaching the Caldwell-Moloy classifications of the female pelvis, as have faculty in several other US midwifery programs. In this commentary, we explain the rationale for this change. We review the roots of the Caldwell-Moloy pelvic classification and the lack of contemporary scientific support for either classifying pelvic types or using such a classification for clinical decision-making, and propose an alternative approach to teaching assessment of the bony pelvis.

The birth center model of care: Staffing, business characteristics, and core clinical outcomes.

Objectives: Interest in expanding access to the birth center model is growing. The purpose of this research is to describe birth center staffing models and business characteristics and explore relationships to perinatal outcomes.

Methods: This descriptive analysis includes a convenience sample of all 84 birth center sites that participated in the AABC Site Survey and AABC Perinatal Data Registry between 2012 and 2020.

Adoption of Consensus Guidelines for Safe Prevention of the Primary Cesarean Delivery by Freestanding Birth Centers.

Introduction: Slow or arrested progress in labor is the most frequent (64%) indication for nonemergent transfer of laboring people from freestanding birth centers to the hospital. After the 2014 publication of the Consensus Statement on Safe Prevention of Primary Cesarean Delivery (Consensus Statement), many freestanding birth centers changed their clinical practice guidelines to allow more time for active labor in the birth center prior to hospital transfer. The result of these changes has not been evaluated in birth centers.

Associations between prolonged second stage of labor and maternal and neonatal outcomes in freestanding birth centers: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Current guidelines for second stage management do not provide guidance for community birth providers about when best to transfer women to hospital care for prolonged second stage. Our goal was to increase the evidence base for these providers by: 1) describing the lengths of second stage labor in freestanding birth centers, and 2) determining whether proportions of postpartum women and newborns experiencing complications change as length of second stage labor increases.

Methods: This study is a retrospective analysis of de-identified client-level data collected in the American Association of Birth Centers Perinatal Data Registry, including women giving birth in freestanding birth centers January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2016.

A Program Evaluation of Behavioral Health Integration in a Freestanding Birth Center.

The objective of this evaluation was to evaluate the integration of behavioral health services at a freestanding birth center. Program evaluation included (1) retrospective health record reviews and (2) provider and client evaluation of satisfaction. In May 2017, an urban freestanding birth center initiated grant-funded integrated behavioral health services.

Exploring Why Birth Center Clients Choose Hospitalization for Labor and Birth.

Objective: To identify demographic and clinical factors associated with birth center clients electing hospitalization for labor and birth and to explore the timing and rationale for elective hospitalization via health records.

Design: A secondary analysis of multiyear data from a quality assurance project at a single birth center. We compared two subsamples-birth center preference group and hospital preference group-and described the apparent rationale for transfers among clients in the latter group.

Key indicators influencing management of prolonged second stage labour by midwives in freestanding birth centres: Results from an ethnographic interview study.

Problems: Complications for newborns and postpartum clients in the hospital are more frequent after a prolonged second stage of labour. Midwives in community settings have little research to guide management in their settings.

Aim: We explored how US birth centre midwives identify onset of second stage of labour and determine when to transfer clients to the hospital for prolonged second stage.

The Experience of Land and Water Birth Within the American Association of Birth Centers Perinatal Data Registry, 2012-2017.

Consumer demand for water birth has grown within an environment of professional controversy. Access to nonpharmacologic pain relief through water immersion is limited within hospital settings across the United States due to concerns over safety. The study is a secondary analysis of prospective observational Perinatal Data Registry (PDR) used by American Association of Birth Center members (AABC PDR).

Brachial artery stiffening in healthy primigravidas is associated with weight gain and increased cardiac output.

Objective: To assess brachial artery distensibility and associated factors in healthy primigravidas.

Methods: We assessed brachial artery distensibility using the DynaPulse 5,000A in 37 women each trimester, and 6-8 weeks and 1-5 years postpartum. Associations with physical and cardiometabolic measures were considered.