Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Pregnancy Medicaid Expansions And Fertility: Differentiating Between The Intensive And Extensive Margins, Lincoln H. Groves, Sarah Hamersma, Leonard M. Lopoo

Center for Policy Research

The theoretical and empirical links between public health insurance access and fertility in the United States remain unclear. Utilizing a demographic cell-based estimation approach with panel data (1987-1997), we revisit the large-scale Medicaid expansions to pregnant women during the 1980s to estimate the heterogeneous impacts of public health insurance access on childbirth. While the decision to become a parent (i.e., the extensive margin) appears to be unaffected by increased access to Medicaid, we find that increased access to public health insurance positively influenced the number of high parity births (i.e., the intensive margin) for select groups of women. In particular, …

The Meaning Of Giving Birth: Voices Of Hmong Women Living In Vietnam, Cheryl A. Corbett, Lynn Clark Callister, Jamie Peterson Gettys, Jacob R. Hickman

Faculty Publications

Increasing knowledge about the sociocultural context of birth is essential to promote culturally sensitive nursing care. This qualitative study provides an ethnographic view of the perspectives of birthing of Hmong mothers living in the highlands of Vietnam. Unique cultural beliefs exist in Hmong culture about the spiritual and physical wold as well as ritual practices associated with childbearing. This includes variations of ancestor worship, reincarnation, and healing practices by shamans. Traditionally, Hmong families take an active role in childbirth with birth frequently occurring in the home. Situated within a large collaborative anthropology project, a convenience sample of 8 Hmong women, …

Honoring Motherhood: The Meaning Of Childbirth For Tongan Women, Shelly J. Reed, Lynn Clark Callister, 'Ana Kavaefiafi, Cheryl A. Corbett, Debra Edmunds

Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this ethnographic study was to describe the meaning of childbirth for Tongan women.

Study Design and Methods: In this qualitative descriptive study, 38 Tongan women, 18 from Tonga and 20 from the United States, who had given birth in the past year were invited to share their perceptions of childbirth. Themes were generated collaboratively by the research team.

Findings: The overarching theme was honoring motherhood; other themes include using strength to facilitate an unmedicated vaginal birth, describing the spiritual dimensions of birth, adhering to cultural practices associated with childbearing, and the influence of the concept of …