I love my job. But it's physically, mentally, and emotionally draining": a cross-sectional survey exploring midwives' intentions of leaving the profession in Melbourne, Australia.

Background: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there were midwifery workforce deficits reported in Australia, but inadequate workforce data to identify retention and attrition in the profession. In the post-pandemic era, workforce deficits continue. This paper reports on midwives' intentions to leave the profession and explores reasons for and factors associated with having high intention to leave, to inform strategies that can address retention and attrition of midwives.

"It's just too far…": A qualitative exploration of the barriers and enablers to accessing perinatal care for rural Australian women.

Purpose: Rural women and their babies experience poorer perinatal outcomes than their urban counterparts and this inequity has existed for decades. This study explored the barriers and enablers that exist for rural women in Australia in accessing perinatal care.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design, using reflexive thematic analysis, was employed.

Barriers and enablers to accessing perinatal health services for rural Australian women: A qualitative exploration of rural health care providers perspectives.

Objective: To identify perceived barriers and enablers for rural women in accessing perinatal care within their own community from the perspective of perinatal health care providers.

Design: A qualitative descriptive study design utilising reflexive thematic analysis, using the socioecological framework to organise and articulate findings.

Setting: Victoria, Australia.

Preventing postnatal depression in new mothers using telephone peer support: protocol for the DAISY (Depression and AnxIety peer Support studY) multi-centre randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Postnatal depression affects up to one in six new mothers in Australia each year, with significant impacts on the woman and her family. Prevention strategies can be complicated by a woman's reluctance to seek professional help. Peer support is a promising but inadequately tested early intervention.

Perinatal outcomes of socially disadvantaged women in Australia: A population-based retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To examine the perinatal outcomes of women who experience social disadvantage using population-based perinatal data collected between 1999 and 2016.

Design: Population-based, retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Victoria, Australia.

Rates of breast feeding and associated factors for First Nations infants in a hospital with a culturally specific caseload midwifery model in Victoria, Australia: a cohort study.

Objectives: There is an urgent need to improve breast feeding rates for Australian First Nations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) infants. We explored breast feeding outcomes of women having a First Nations infant at three sites that introduced a culturally specific continuity of midwife care model.

Design: Women having a First Nations infant booking for pregnancy care between March 2017 and November 2020 were invited to participate.

Barriers and enablers to postpartum depression and anxiety screening: A qualitative study of Victorian maternal and child health nurses' practices.

In Victoria, Australia, Maternal and Child Health nurses (MCHNs) play a key role in facilitating the timely identification of Postnatal Depression and Anxiety (PNDA). Understanding MCHNs' screening practices, and the factors which impact them, is central to ensuring that future screening policy agendas are evidence-based and able to support MCHNs in carrying out this critical work. Yet, little is known about this subject.

Matching of woman and doula, and the generation of trust in an Australian volunteer doula program: Findings from a realist evaluation.

How women are cared for while pregnant and having a new baby can have profound and lasting effects on their health and well-being. While mainstream maternity care systems aspire to provide care that is woman-centred, women with fewest social and economic resources often have reduced access. Community-based doula support programs offer complementary care for these women and are known to, on average, have positive outcomes.

How and when doula support increases confidence in women experiencing socioeconomic adversity: Findings from a realist evaluation of an Australian volunteer doula program.

How women are cared for while having a baby can have lasting effects on their lives. Women value relational care with continuity-when caregivers get to know them as individuals. Despite evidence of benefit and global policy support, few maternity care systems across the world routinely offer relational continuity.

Translating evidence into practice: Implementing culturally safe continuity of midwifery care for First Nations women in three maternity services in Victoria, Australia.

Background: Strategies to improve outcomes for Australian First Nations mothers and babies are urgently needed. Caseload midwifery, where women have midwife-led continuity throughout pregnancy, labour, birth and the early postnatal period, is associated with substantially better perinatal health outcomes, but few First Nations women receive it. We assessed the capacity of four maternity services in Victoria, Australia, to implement, embed, and sustain a culturally responsive caseload midwifery service.

Disparities in postnatal depression and anxiety screening: Results from a cross sectional survey of Maternal and Child health nurses in Victoria, Australia.

Objectives: To describe Maternal and Child Health nurses' self-reported knowledge of, and attitude toward screening for postnatal depression and anxiety, and identify factors which impact screening in line with recommended guidelines.

Methods: A population-based, cross-sectional study of all Maternal and Child Health nurses in Victoria, Australia. Data were collected in 2019 through an online survey designed to fit a Knowledge, Attitude and Practice framework.

First-time mothers' experiences of receiving proactive telephone-based peer support for breastfeeding in Australia: a qualitative study.

Background: The RUBY randomised controlled trial was found to be effective in promoting breastfeeding continuation, in the setting of a high income country, through a program of proactive telephone-based peer support in the first 6 months postpartum. This paper explores women's experiences of receiving the peer support intervention in the RUBY trial.

Methods: Ten in-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted between December 2015 and November 2016 in Metropolitan Melbourne, and regional Victoria, Australia.

Who is at risk of burnout? A cross-sectional survey of midwives in a tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Background: Burnout is an occupational phenomenon with the potential to affect a person's physical and mental health, job satisfaction and quality of work. There is evidence of burnout occurring in the midwifery profession, but inadequate data on the prevalence of, and the factors associated with, burnout.

Aim: Identify the prevalence of burnout in a population of midwives and explore what individual and workforce characteristics, and what occupational stressors, were associated with burnout.

Barriers and facilitators to supporting women with postnatal depression and anxiety: A qualitative study of maternal and child health nurses' experiences.

Aims And Objectives: To explore maternal and child health nurses' experiences of supporting women with postnatal depression and anxiety and the factors which impact these.

Background: Maternal and child health nurses play a key role in identifying women with postnatal depression and anxiety and facilitating their access to appropriate supports. Understanding how nurses carryout this work, and the conditions which impact their ability to do so, is critical to the development of service delivery frameworks that can facilitate optimal outcomes for women and their families.

Sources of information during pregnancy and the early parenting period: Exploring the views of women and their partners.

Objective: There are a wide variety of information sources available during pregnancy and the early parenting period, but limited understanding of their usefulness, particularly for partners. We explored the views of both women and their partners regarding sources of information, their frequency of use, and their preferred formats.

Design And Setting: Data were collected as part of a large cluster randomised controlled trial at a tertiary maternity hospital in 2015-2016, in Melbourne, Australia.

Implementing a successful proactive telephone breastfeeding peer support intervention: volunteer recruitment, training, and intervention delivery in the RUBY randomised controlled trial.

Background: The RUBY randomised controlled trial demonstrated the benefit of proactive telephone peer support in promoting breastfeeding continuation in a setting with high breastfeeding initiation, where typically this is difficult to achieve. This paper describes the implementation and delivery of the peer support intervention with a focus on recruitment, training, and support of peer volunteers, and includes a description of the key components of the calls.

Methods: Data collection occurred between December 2012 and June 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.

Women's experiences of infant feeding support: Findings from a cross-sectional survey in Victoria, Australia.

Objective: To evaluate new mothers' experiences of infant feeding support.

Design: A postal survey developed for this study was sent to all new mothers in ten local government areas in Victoria, Australia when their baby was six months of age. Questions explored infant feeding methods, feeding support services, and experiences of infant feeding support.

Postnatal depression and anxiety screening and management by maternal and child health nurses in community settings: A scoping review.

Objective: To examine the range and nature of primary research evidence on postnatal depression and anxiety screening and management by maternal and child health nurses within community settings.

Background: Maternal and child health nurses are well-placed to identify and support women at risk of, or experiencing, postnatal depression and anxiety- a prevalent public health issue which remains largely undetected.

Methods: Scoping methodology, guided by the Arksey and O'Malley (2005) framework, was used.

Factors associated with midwives' job satisfaction and experience of work: a cross-sectional survey of midwives in a tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Background: Significant factors affecting the Australian maternity care context include an ageing, predominantly part-time midwifery workforce, increasingly medicalised maternity care, and women with more complex health/social needs. This results in challenges for the maternity care system. There is a lack of understanding of midwives' experiences and job satisfaction in this context.

Proactive telephone-based peer support for breastfeeding: a cross-sectional survey of women's experiences of receiving support in the RUBY randomised controlled trial.

Objective: The Ringing Up about Breastfeeding earlY (RUBY) randomised controlled trial (RCT) of proactive telephone-based peer support for breastfeeding found that infants of women allocated to the intervention were more likely to be receiving breast milk at 6 months of age than those receiving usual care. This study explores women's experiences of receiving the RUBY peer support intervention.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Breastfeeding peer support by telephone in the RUBY randomised controlled trial: A qualitative exploration of volunteers' experiences.

Background: There is growing evidence that peer support programs may be effective in supporting breastfeeding mothers. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) (the RUBY study) that tested peer support in the Australian context found that infants of first-time mothers who received proactive telephone peer support were more likely to be receiving breastmilk at six months of age.

Methods: This qualitative sub-study of the RUBY RCT explores the experiences and views of peer volunteers who delivered the intervention.

Volunteers' experiences of providing telephone-based breast-feeding peer support in the RUBY randomised controlled trial.

Objective: The Ringing Up About Breastfeeding earlY (RUBY) randomised controlled trial (RCT) found that a telephone-based peer volunteer support intervention increased breast-feeding duration in a setting with high breast-feeding initiation. This sub-study of the RUBY RCT describes the motivation, preparation and experiences of volunteers who provided the peer support intervention.

Design: An online survey was completed by 154 (67 %) volunteers after ceasing volunteering.

An Australian doula program for socially disadvantaged women: Developing realist evaluation theories.

Problem: Volunteer doula support has achieved favourable outcomes for socially disadvantaged women around the world. There is limited explanatory understanding of how, why and when doula support programs improve outcomes.

Background: A community organisation is providing free doula support for women experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage in Melbourne, Australia.