The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
Over the past decade, there has been an increased focus on the use of “evidence” to enhance practice in the delivery of health and human service. While there are multiple reasons for the advent of evidence-based public health (EBPH), the pressure for increased accountability in public health has arisen in part because of the increasing focus on the generation and use of evidence in the field of clinical...
The approach taken in this book to guide authors in assessing the evidence for their respective topic areas was generated by the editors. It represents a combination of current recommendations for describing the state of public health evidence, assessing the quality of that evidence, including the suitability of the various studies reviewed to assess the effectiveness of their respective interventions,...
This chapter presents the origins and assumptions of evidence-based medicine as rooted in the philosophy of science called positivism. The basic principles of the positivist approach to science, empiricism, exclusivity, universality, and autonomy are explained and identified in reproductive and perinatal health outcomes related studies from the systematic reviews of the Cochrane Library, the premier...
Providing women with access to family planning – including contraception and abortion – is essential for primary prevention of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Given the relationship between unintended and unwanted pregnancies and adverse pregnancy outcomes, when women can safely avoid unintended pregnancies and unwanted births, maternal as well as infant morbidity and mortality is reduced...
In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published recommendations to impact poor pregnancy outcomes by addressing the health status of women and men before conception. While the theoretical advantages of preconceptional health promotion grow, the actual effectiveness of preconception interventions is largely untested as are the potential unintended consequences. The most robust...
Difficulties in conceiving or carrying a child to term affect 12% of the 62 million American women between ages 15–44 (Chandra, Martinez, Mosher, Abma, & Jones, 2005). Involuntary childlessness often leads to disappointment and despair, contributing to depression, marital strife and social stigma. Although infertility status, access to infertility care, and response to medical treatment are not...
Over the last two decades, much of the public health focus regarding sexually transmitted diseases in the perinatal period has been on the prevention of HIV transmission from mothers to infants. The development of the evidence base in support of screening policies for HIV infection during pregnancy has a rich and complex history (especially given the relatively short time period), and there continue...
For morethan two decades, prenatal care has been a cornerstone of our nation?s strategy for preventing low birthweight (LBW). The enrollment of all pregnant women in prenatal care was promoted by the seminal 1985 Institute of Medicine report Preventing Low Birthweight (IOM, 1985a), following a comprehensive review of the literature by a select IOM committee on the effectiveness of prenatal care for...
In this chapter we review two interventions for the reduction of preterm birth, antibiotic treatment for bacteria vaginosis (BV) and progesterone, 17 alpha hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17p). While there has been recent attention to the evidence base for both interventions, the back story underlying the generation and promulgation of the evidence base for each intervention has been quite different...
Women who are at high risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes often have inadequate personal, psychological, or financial resources to overcome their multiple social and/or medical risk factors. These women therefore need assistance, support, guidance and oversight from a health or social service professional who meets them “where they are” both geographically and personally. One type of program that...
This chapter presents a critical review of salient issues related to the selection, planning, delivery, and evaluation of evidence-based assessment and health education-counseling methods for pregnant smokers. The chapter aims are to present: (a) a synopsis of the epidemiologic evidence documenting the adverse effects caused by active and passive tobacco exposure; (b) smoking prevalence rates and...
Women’s use of alcohol and psychoactive substances before conception and during pregnancy is common and occurs in all ethnic groups, all socio-economic strata and all geographic regions of the U.S. The biologic and social effects of substance use on perinatal outcomes and on the long-term physical and psychological development of exposed children are not fully understood, despite active research for...
Depression is among the most prevalent and high-risk perinatal health problems. From studies using objective measures of depression, it is estimated that in the United States, the period prevalence of major depression during pregnancy ranges from 9.4 to 12.7%, and that 21.9% of women have a major depressive episode during the first year postpartum (Gaynes et al., 2005). Peripartum depression may differentially...
Pregnancy has been recognized as a period of special nutritional needs across cultures and for many generations. Mothers who have adequate food and good quality nutritional intake generally have better birth outcomes. In cultures where food is scarce, pregnant women may be given extra servings of high quality protein items such as eggs or milk or other scarce but nutritious foods when there isn’t...
There is widespread recognition of the need for innovation to improve the quality of care for childbearing women and to reduce the long-standing racial/ethnic disparities in pregnancy outcomes (Carroli, Rooney, & Villar, 2001; Hughes & Runyan, 1995; Institute of Medicine, 2003; Lu & Halfon, 2003; Misra, Grason & Weisman, 2000). This integrated review will examine two promising innovations...
Why focus on the process of childbirth in an examination of evidence for interventions to reduce disparities in reproductive and perinatal health? Is it because childbirth is the leading cause of hospitalization among women in the United States with the method of delivery having both short and long term implications for a woman’s health? Or, because cesarean section has become the most common major...
Regionalized perinatal care is an on-going effort to systematically organize and coordinate health care for expectant mothers and newborns. In the 1960s and 1970s, academic clinicians and public health experts pioneered regionalized perinatal services in response to new neonatal care technologies and expanding but still limited expertise (Committee on Perinatal Health, 1976; Graven, Howe, & Callon,...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.