Describes how nursing professionals can mitigate the maternal health crisis through advocacy and improved practice. This graduate-level nursing text and professional clinical reference is the first to comprehensively address the escalating crisis in U.S. maternal health—our country experiences the highest maternal mortality among developed nations—and provides strategies and roadmaps for improved outcomes. It challenges the current approach to ameliorating the maternal crisis, which embeds maternal care into “child health” and ”women’s health,” and characterizes maternal health as a distinct, contemporary epidemiological crisis in America. At its heart, the book calls for the application of nursing knowledge and skill in advocating for and changing practices. The text examines the social determinants responsible for the crisis, including structural and systemic economic and political forces, declining accessibility to maternal care, and lack of a national effort to improve maternal health. With a strong public focus, the book engages readers through narratives and interactive critical thinking exercises in analyzing the problem and related structural and systemic barriers. It offers guidelines for advocacy and improved practice while fostering creative thinking by which readers can imagine their own solutions. Specific issues addressed include the current status of health care delivery, the public health safety net, practice-policy initiatives, specific sociocultural factors contributing to enhanced risk, myths and impugning attitudes about childbearing women, the life-long impact of maternal health neglect, and the contribution of nursing to advocacy, prevention, and improved practice. Key Features: Synthesizes key data on the maternal health crisis in America focusing on nursing leadership and contributions Underscores the need for a collaborative public health nursing perspective in addressing the maternal health crisis Examines social determinants responsible for the crisis Presents exercises and narratives for advocacy and improved practice Spotlights maternal health as a specific entity Includes learning objectives, expert opinions, key questions to guide critical thinking, brief summary, and references in each chapter

The evaluation of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by the Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. Volume 3 focuses on developments since the publication of DCP2 and will also include the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume. The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced three key findings: 1. There is significant difficulty in measuring the burden of key conditions such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, nonsexually transmitted infections, infertility, and violence against women. 2. Investments in the continuum of care can have significant returns for improved and equitable access, health, poverty, and health systems. 3. There is a large difference in how RMNCH conditions affect different income groups; investments in RMNCH can lessen the disparity in terms of both health and financial risk.

As women of childbearing age have become heavier, the trade-off between maternal and child health created by variation in gestational weight gain has become more difficult to reconcile. Weight Gain During Pregnancy responds to the need for a reexamination of the 1990 Institute of Medicine guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy. It builds on the conceptual framework that underscored the 1990 weight gain guidelines and addresses the need to update them through a comprehensive review of the literature and independent analyses of existing databases. The book explores relationships between weight gain during pregnancy and a variety of factors (e.g., the mother's weight and height before pregnancy) and places this in the context of the health of the infant and the mother, presenting specific, updated target ranges for weight gain during pregnancy and guidelines for proper measurement. New features of this book include a specific range of recommended gain for obese women. Weight Gain During Pregnancy is intended to assist practitioners who care for women of childbearing age, policy makers, educators, researchers, and the pregnant women themselves to understand the role of gestational weight gain and to provide them with the tools needed to promote optimal pregnancy outcomes.

The delivery of high quality and equitable care for both mothers and newborns is complex and requires efforts across many sectors. The United States spends more on childbirth than any other country in the world, yet outcomes are worse than other high-resource countries, and even worse for Black and Native American women. There are a variety of factors that influence childbirth, including social determinants such as income, educational levels, access to care, financing, transportation, structural racism and geographic variability in birth settings. It is important to reevaluate the United States' approach to maternal and newborn care through the lens of these factors across multiple disciplines. Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice reviews and evaluates maternal and newborn care in the United States, the epidemiology of social and clinical risks in pregnancy and childbirth, birth settings research, and access to and choice of birth settings.

This volume demonstrates the great diversity in the types of problems being faced around the world and the kinds of solutions being evaluated in the area of maternal and infant health. A completely new Introduction by Dr. Gregory Pappas, Deputy Director for Health, ORC Macro International, looks at past approaches and possible future areas of inquiry into this important health area. A Foreword by Dr. Barbara Hatcher, APHA Director of Scientific and Professional Affairs, focuses on health disparities as they relate to maternal and infant health. Excellent for classroom use.

Each year more than 4 million children are born with birth defects. This book highlights the unprecedented opportunity to improve the lives of children and families in developing countries by preventing some birth defects and reducing the consequences of others. A number of developing countries with more comprehensive health care systems are making significant progress in the prevention and care of birth defects. In many other developing countries, however, policymakers have limited knowledge of the negative impact of birth defects and are largely unaware of the affordable and effective interventions available to reduce the impact of certain conditions. Reducing Birth Defects: Meeting the Challenge in the Developing World includes descriptions of successful programs and presents a plan of action to address critical gaps in the understanding, prevention, and treatment of birth defects in developing countries. This study also recommends capacity building, priority research, and institutional and global efforts to reduce the incidence and impact of birth defects in developing countries.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation—the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. From the bestselling authors of Tightrope, two of our most fiercely moral voices With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope. They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS. Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty. Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

“Evidence-Informed Health Policy serves as a foundation for policymaking using an evidence-informed model with emphasis on the fact that the best policy is based on evidence. The second edition helps transform students into healthcare advocates who can work collaboratively throughout the policymaking process, preparing them to engage at any policy level in shaping the future of nursing.” –Keeley Harding, DNP, APRN, CNS, CPNP-AC/PC; and Beverly Hittle, PhD, RN Assistant Professors and Course Faculty Leaders for Combined DNP-PhD Health Policy University of Cincinnati “This book is an essential resource for nurses and healthcare professionals who are engaged or interested in influencing health policy and navigating complex health policy environments.” –Jacalyn Buck, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAONL Clinical Professor Director, DNP Executive Track The Ohio State University College of Nursing “This new edition is a valuable resource for those nurses wanting to learn more about evidence-informed health policy, development of such policies, as well as the importance of nurse participation in their development.” –Jane F. Mahowald, MA, BSN, RN, ANEF Immediate past Executive Director of the Ohio League for Nursing What happens in health policy at local, state, and federal levels directly affects patients, nurses, and nursing practice. Some healthcare professionals, though, are intimidated by the complex and often nonlinear policy process or simply don’t know how to take the first step toward implementing policy change. In the second edition of Evidence-Informed Health Policy, authors Jacqueline M. Loversidge and Joyce Zurmehly demystify health policymaking and equip nurses and other healthcare professionals with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to navigate the first of many steps into health policy. This book translates the EBP language of clinical decision-making into an evidence-informed health policy (EIHP) model—a foundation for integrating evidence into health policymaking and leveraging dialogue with stakeholders. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Extending the Use of Evidence-Based Practice to Health Policymaking Chapter 2: The Use of Evidence: The Changing Landscape in Health Policymaking Chapter 3: Health Policy and Politics Chapter 4: Government Structures and Functions That Drive Process Chapter 5: Policymaking Processes and Models Chapter 6: An Overview of an Evidence-Informed Health Policy Model for Nursing Chapter 7: The Foundation: Steps 0 Through 3 of the EIHP Process Chapter 8: Policy Production: Steps 4 and 5 of the EIHP Process Chapter 9: Follow-Through: Steps 6 and 7 of the EIHP Process Chapter 10: Health Policy on a Global Scale Chapter 11: Evidence-Informed Health Policymaking: Challenges and Strategies Appendix A: Resources Appendix B: Global Examples of Evidence-Informed Policymaking: An Annotated Bibliography

Revised for the seventh edition, and called a "gem" by Mothering magazine, our book has sold over 30,000 copies to date. This is a practical guide for mothers who are experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety. The book is based on the experiences of thousands of women and describes what has helped them get through this difficult time. From the introduction: The idea for this book came from the realization that many women are suffering from some degree of postpartum depression and that very few will find access to supportive care while going through it. Some of our own mothers are only now feeling safe enough to talk about their experiences and describe how alone and crazy they felt. The material in this book is based on over thirty years of counselling thousands of women with postpartum depression. These women have willingly shared their experiences with each other, and together they have explored what has helped them. It is their knowledge, wisdom, courage and generosity that has made this book possible. Emphasis has been put on those common threads which run through the experience of postpartum depression. The term "perinatal depression" is being used to describe postpartum depression in many newer research, journals and publications. It is an umbrella term that better reflects the fact that symptoms can begin during pregnancy as well as postpartum. In this book we refer to "postpartum depression," which fits under the more general category of "perinatal" symptoms. As you read, keep in mind that you are going to survive this. However hopeless you may feel, try to remember that it will end. Women grow and change as they cope with their depression. After it is all over, many women say they are glad they went through the experience. As one woman said, "I never thought I'd get through it but I did and I feel great. I know much more about myself. Now I enjoy my baby and I feel peaceful."