Women's Health Commons^™

Psychometric Properties Of The Sindhi Version Of The Mood And Feelings Questionnaire (Mfq) In A Sample Of Early Adolescents Living In Rural Pakistan, Janavi Shetty, Florence Perquier, Susan C. Campisi, Yaqub Wasan, Madison Aitken, Daphne J. Korczak, Suneeta Monga, Sajid Bashir Soofi, Peter Szatmari, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health

There is a need for reliable and valid screening tools that assess depressive symptoms in adolescents in Pakistan. To address this need, the present study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of a Sindhi-translated and adapted version of the child-report Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ-C) and the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-C) in a community sample of adolescents living in Matiari, Pakistan. Questionnaires were translated into Sindhi and administered by study psychologists to 1350 participants (52.3% female) 9.0 to 15.9 years old. Measurement structure was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency was estimated, and convergent and divergent …

Pregnancy Outcomes Of Patients With Ultrasound-Indicated And History-Indicated Mcdonald Cervical Cerclage, Zaibunnisa Memon, Naureen Anjum, Zahra Hoodbhoy

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Objective: To assess pregnancy outcomes of patients with ultrasound-indicated and history-indicated McDonald cervical cerclage.
Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study of pregnant women who had cervical cerclage performed at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karimabad campus. We obtained Institutional Review Board approval and reviewed the medical records of patients. A purposive continuous sampling technique was used. A total of 88 patients were included. There were no exclusion criteria. Outcome data were collected from the medical record of patients from January 2010 to December 2016.
Results: Analysis reported a statistically significant lower gravidity and parity in the scan-indicated group as …

Resilience And Prenatal Mental Health In Pakistan: A Qualitative Inquiry, Shireen Shehzad, David Arthur, An-Sofie Van Parys, Nicole Letourneau, Gail Wagnild, Shahirose Sadrudin Premji, Nargis Asad, Olivier Degomme

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: Women in Pakistan suffer from a high rate of depression. The stress of low-income, illiteracy, exposure to violence and living in a patriarchal society are predisposing vulnerabilities for depression, particularly during and following pregnancy. The resilience of an individual plays a significant role in promoting prenatal mental health, but this has yet to be thoroughly researched. In this article, our objective is to identify the core characteristics of resilience among pregnant women, which will then help us in developing an intervention.
Methods: The exploratory-descriptive study was conducted over 6 months in five different antenatal hospitals in Sindh, Pakistan. A …

Effect Of Dexamethasone On Newborn Survival At Different Administration-To-Birth Intervals: A Secondary Analysis Of The Who Action (Antenatal Corticosteroids For Improving Outcomes In Preterm Newborn)-I Trial, Who Action Trials Collaborators, Olufemi T. Oladapo, Joshua P. Vogel, Gilda Piaggio, My Huong Nguyen, Fernando Althabe, Rajiv Bahl, Suman P. N. Rao, Shabina Ariff, Sajid Bashir Soofi, Lumaan Sheikh

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: The WHO ACTION-I trial demonstrated that dexamethasone significantly reduced neonatal mortality when administered to women at risk of early preterm birth in low-resource countries. We conducted a secondary analysis to determine how these benefits can be optimised, by evaluating the effect of dexamethasone compared to placebo on newborn mortality and severe respiratory distress outcomes at different administration-to-birth intervals, and identifying the interval with the greatest benefits.
Methods: The WHO ACTION-I trial was a multi-country, individually-randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. It was conducted in 29 hospitals across Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Women with a viable singleton or multiple …

An Interprofessional Public Library-Academic Partnership For Community Outreach On Women's Health, Lyndonna Marrast, Eun Ji Kim, Danielle Ezzo, Joseph Conigliaro

Urban Library Journal

This article describes a collaboration between a branch of the Queens Public Library in NY and an academic medical center that delivered a women’s health educational program with an interprofessional team of faculty, trainees, and students. The team delivered interactive 1-hour long monthly sessions in a Question and Answer format guided by a Powerpoint presentation. The overall goal was to deliver health education workshops on common medical conditions (i.e. diabetes, heart disease) and concerns of interest to women across the lifespan (i.e. infertility, dementia) to improve the health literacy of local community members. We outlined the steps in establishing this …

Creatively Capturing Structure And Energy: Zero Balancing's Essential Elements (Article & Video), Lisa Bardarson

Journal of Transformative Touch

Through the creative use of coloring, I am devising a way to document Zero Balancing’s two foundational elements, structure and energy and the changes that occur following a ZB session. I believe this experiential activity will be a creative fulcrum, helping the client connect more effectively with the deepest part of themselves thereby experiencing greater ease and freedom from their issues. As the activity of coloring is a “right brain”/ creative endeavor, I believe it can serve to enhance a client’s expanded state of consciousness, one of the hallmarks of a Zero Balancing session, as well as improve their overall …

The Causes Of Preterm Neonatal Deaths In India And Pakistan (Purpose): A Prospective Cohort Study, Sangappa M. Dhaded, Sarah Saleem, Shivaprasad S. Goudar, Shiyam Sunder Tikmani, Kay Hwang, Gowdar Guruprasad, Gayathri H. Aradhya, Varun B. Kusagur, Sana Roujani, Sayyeda Reza

Community Health Sciences

Background: Preterm birth remains the major cause of neonatal death worldwide. South Asia contributes disproportionately to deaths among preterm births worldwide, yet few population-based studies have assessed the underlying causes of deaths. Novel evaluations, including histological and bacteriological assessments of placental and fetal tissues, facilitate more precise determination of the underlying causes of preterm deaths. We sought to assess underlying and contributing causes of preterm neonatal deaths in India and Pakistan.
Methods: The project to understand and research preterm pregnancy outcomes and stillbirths in South Asia (PURPOSe) was a prospective cohort study done in three hospitals in Davangere, India, and …

The Reading Profiles Of Late Elementary English Learners With And Without Dyslexia, Pia Tohme, Rudy Abi-Habib, Elma Nassar, Nouran Hamed, Gaël Abou-Ghannam, Gihad E Chalouhi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 stress and anxiety on prenatal attachment during the second trimester of gestation. Pregnancy is an important stage for mothers-to-be in creating representations of themselves as a "mother", with the developing attachment relationship to the unborn child considered as a milestone in the future parent's developmental trajectory. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national health measures installed can hence have consequences on these representations and on prenatal attachment. Our sample consisted of 95 mothers that were recruited from a prenatal ultrasound screening center. Results suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic …

Stat6 Blockade Abrogates Aspergillus-Induced Eosinophilic Chronic Rhinosinusitis And Asthma, A Model Of Unified Airway Disease, Meng Lin, Amy T Ku, Jie Dong, Fei Yue, Weiyu Jiang, Ahmed Atef Ibrahim, Fanglue Peng, Chad J Creighton, Chandandeep Nagi, Carolina Gutierrez, Jeffrey M Rosen, Xiang H-F Zhang, Susan G Hilsenbeck, Xi Chen, Yi-Chieh Nancy Du, Shixia Huang, Aiping Shi, Zhimin Fan, Yi Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) promotes cell survival and instigates breast tumor formation, and in the normal breast it also drives alveolar differentiation and lactogenesis. However, whether STAT5 drives a differentiated phenotype in breast tumorigenesis and therefore impacts cancer spread and metastasis is unclear. We found in two genetically engineered mouse models of breast cancer that constitutively activated Stat5a (Stat5aca) caused precancerous mammary epithelial cells to become lactogenic and evolve into tumors with diminished potential to metastasize. We also showed that STAT5aca reduced the migratory and invasive ability of human breast cancer cell lines in …

Salpingitis In An Adolescent Female With Constipation And Abdominal Pain, Gal Barak, Matthew R Carroll, Andrea Dean

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Abdominal pain is one of the most common presenting complaints in the emergency room for pediatric patients. While constipation is one of the most common causes for abdominal pain in pediatrics, serious intra-abdominal pathology must always be excluded. We report a pre-coital post-menarchal adolescent female who presented with severe abdominal pain and constipation and had radiographic findings of salpingitis. It was suspected that uterine and adnexal changes seen on imaging resulted from the fecal mass compressing the genitourinary tract leading to fluid collection manifesting as radiographic evidence of salpingitis. This mechanism is similar to bladder outlet obstruction resulting from compression …

Isotretinoin, Vitamin A Supplements, And Unintended Pregnancies In Post Roe V Wade America, Praneet S Paidisetty, Leonard K Wang, Dina H Zamil, Shangyi Fu, Zeena Y Nawas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Isotretinoin is a potent vitamin A derivative that is used to treat acne. However, despite its utility in dermatologic care, it is also highly teratogenic and can cause severe life-threatening fetal abnormalities in the first trimester of pregnancy. As a result, existing regulations are stringent in order to prevent accidental pregnancies in women taking isotretinoin. In the unlikely case of an unintended pregnancy, while taking isotretinoin, a woman could terminate her pregnancy with an abortion. However, with the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, we explore the consequences of this landmark United States Supreme Court ruling with special attention …

Lessons From The Failure To Complete A Trial Of Denosumab In Women With A Pathogenic Brca1/2 Variant Scheduling Risk-Reducing Salpingo-Oophorectomy, Meghna S Trivedi, Nadir Arber, Eitan Friedman, Judy E Garber, Kevin Holcomb, Neil S Horowitz, Jason D Wright, J Jack Lee, Lana A Vornik, Saba Abutaseh, Tawana Castile, Edward R Sauter, Eileen Dimond, Brandy M Heckman-Stoddard, Margaret House, Goli Samimi, Powel H Brown, Katherine D Crew

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Female carriers of pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) BRCA1/2 variants are at increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Currently, the only effective strategy for ovarian cancer risk reduction is risk-reducing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (RR-BSO), which carries adverse effects related to early menopause. There is ongoing investigation of inhibition of the RANK ligand (RANKL) with denosumab as a means of chemoprevention for breast cancer in carriers of BRCA1 P/LP variants. Through the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) Early Phase Clinical Trials Prevention Consortia, a presurgical pilot study of denosumab was developed in premenopausal carriers of P/LP BRCA1/2 variants scheduled for RR-BSO …

Breast Surgery Super-Specialization: Impact On Advanced Surgical Training And Research, Danish Ali, Sana Zeeshan, Nifasat Farooqi, Lubna Vohra

Medical College Documents

The earliest records of breast cancer (BC) date back to 3,000 - 2,500 B.C., ever since multiple curative options have been explored. First known wide margin excision was performed around 1st Century AD and a prototype of the modern-day BC surgery, Halsted radical mastectomy, was performed in the 20th Century. BC is the most common cancer in Pakistan accounting for up to 14.5% of the total cancer incidences. Accredited breast surgery fellowships were established in the UK and USA in 2002 and 2003, respectively. In Pakistan, the movement was delayed and the two-year College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) …

Gutka Consumption And Dietary Partialities Explaining Anemia In Women Of A Coastal Slum Of Karachi, Pakistan: A Mixed-Method Study, Ameer Muhammad, Sarah Saleem, Daniyaal Ahmad, Eleze Tariq, Yasir Shafiq

Community Health Sciences

Background: Limited literature is available on the dietary pattern and its consequences on health of women living in coastal slums of Karachi, Pakistan.
Material and methods: The study employed a mixed-method approach where concurrent quantitative and qualitative assessments were carried out. An analytical cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect information on demographic, household, obstetrics characteristics, and dietary pattern of married women of reproductive age (MWRA). Blood samples were collected to identify the hemoglobin level to determine anemia. For the qualitative component, focus group discussions were carried out with women and in-depth interviews with shopkeepers to understand the availability of food …

The Risks Of Birth Defects And Childhood Cancer With Conception By Assisted Reproductive Technology, Barbara Luke, Morton B Brown, Ethan Wantman, Maria J Schymura, Marilyn L Browne, Sarah C Fisher, Nina E Forestieri, Chandrika Rao, Hazel B Nichols, Mahsa M Yazdy, Susan T Gershman, Caitlin R Sacha, Melanie Williams, Mary K Ethen, Mark A Canfield, Kevin J Doody, Michael L Eisenberg, Valerie L Baker, Carrie Williams, Alastair G Sutcliffe, Melissa A Richard, Philip J Lupo

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Study question: Is there an association between fertility status, method of conception and the risks of birth defects and childhood cancer?

Summary answer: The risk of childhood cancer had two independent components: (i) method of conception and (ii) presence, type and number of birth defects.

What is known already: The rarity of the co-occurrence of birth defects, cancer and ART makes studying their association challenging. Prior studies have indicated that infertility and ART are associated with an increased risk of birth defects or cancer but have been limited by small sample size and inadequate statistical power, failure to adjust for …

Neurodevelopment Assessment Of Small For Gestational Age Children In A Community-Based Cohort From Pakistan, Sabahat Naz, Zahra Hoodbhoy, Ali Jaffar, Sidra Kaleem Jafri, Babar Hasan, Devyani Chowdhury, Melissa Gladstone

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Children born small for gestational age (SGA) may experience more long-term neurodevelopmental issues than those born appropriate for gestational age (AGA). This study aimed to assess differences in the neurodevelopment of children born SGA or AGA within a periurban community in Pakistan.
Methods: This was a prospective cohort study in which study participants were followed from the pilot Doppler cohort study conducted in 2018. This pilot study aimed to develop a pregnancy risk stratification model using machine learning on fetal Dopplers. This project identified 119 newborns who were born SGA (2.4±0.4 kg) based on International Fetal and Newborn Growth …

Chemical Relaxers And Hair-Straightening Products: Potential Targets For Hormone-Related Cancer Prevention And Control, Adana A. M. Llanos, Jasmine A. Mcdonald, Dede K. Teteh, Traci N. Bethea

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

"Emerging data show that use of permanent hair dyes, chemical relaxers, and straightening products might contribute to increased risk of hormone-related cancers (1-5) and potentially breast tumors with features indicative of more aggressive phenotypes (6). Given the wide use of these products globally, they are an important source of exposure to potentially harmful chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals—to which we are ubiquitously exposed (7)—and mutagenic and/or genotoxic compounds. The unequal burden of exposure across populations plausibly contributes to cancer inequities as the groups with the greatest exposure also experience poorer cancer outcomes (8). …

Demographic And Socioeconomic Factors Predict Maternal Postpartum Rehospitalization: A Retrospective Numom2b Dataset Study, Colin Wakefield

Tower Health Research Day

No abstract provided.

Feasibility Of A Novel Non-Invasive Swab Technique For Serial Whole-Exome Sequencing Of Cervical Tumors During Chemoradiation Therapy, Julianna K Bronk, Chiraag Kapadia, Xiaogang Wu, Bhavana V Chapman, Rui Wang, Tatiana V Karpinets, Xingzhi Song, Andrew M Futreal, Jianhua Zhang, Ann H Klopp, Lauren E Colbert

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Clinically relevant genetic predictors of radiation response for cervical cancer are understudied due to the morbidity of repeat invasive biopsies required to obtain genetic material. Thus, we aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of a novel noninvasive cervical swab technique to (1) collect tumor DNA with adequate throughput to (2) perform whole-exome sequencing (WES) at serial time points over the course of chemoradiation therapy (CRT).

METHODS: Cervical cancer tumor samples from patients undergoing chemoradiation were collected at baseline, at week 1, week 3, and at the completion of CRT (week 5) using a noninvasive swab-based biopsy technique. Swab samples were …

Classification Of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Using Tumor Morphologic Characteristics, Katelyn F Handley, Travis T Sims, Nicholas W Bateman, Deanna Glassman, Katherine I Foster, Sanghoon Lee, Jun Yao, Hui Yao, Bryan M Fellman, Jinsong Liu, Zhen Lu, Kelly A Conrads, Brian L Hood, Waleed Barakat, Li Zhao, Jianhua Zhang, Shannon N Westin, Joseph Celestino, Kelly M Rangel, Sunil Badal, Igor Pereira, Prahlad T Ram, George L Maxwell, Livia S Eberlin, P Andrew Futreal, Robert C Bast, Nicole D Fleming, Thomas P Conrads, Anil K Sood

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: Despite similar histologic appearance among high-grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSOCs), clinical observations suggest vast differences in gross appearance. There is currently no systematic framework by which to classify HGSOCs according to their gross morphologic characteristics.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and characterize a gross morphologic classification system for HGSOC.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study included patients with suspected advanced-stage ovarian cancer who presented between April 1, 2013, and August 5, 2016, to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a large referral center. Patients underwent laparoscopic assessment of disease burden before treatment and received a histopathologic diagnosis of …

Era Project Summary Of Argument Before Pa Supreme Court On Whether Medicaid Abortion Ban Amounts To Sex Discrimination, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

This morning, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, a case in which reproductive rights advocates have challenged the state’s ban on Medicaid funding for abortion (Coverage Ban), arguing that the ban violates the state constitution’s explicit prohibitions against sex discrimination.

Association Between Fetal Abdominal Growth Trajectories, Maternal Metabolite Signatures Early In Pregnancy, And Childhood Growth And Adiposity: Prospective Observational Multinational Interbio-21st Fetal Study, Jose Villar, Roseline Ochieng, Robert B. Gunier, Aris T. Papageorghiou, Stephen Rauch, Rose Mcgready, Julia M. Gauglitz, Fernando C. Barros, Manu Vatish, Shama Munim

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Background: Obesity predominantly affects populations in high-income countries and those countries facing epidemiological transition. The risk of childhood obesity is increased among infants who had overweight or obesity at birth, but in low-resource settings one in five infants are born small for gestational age. We aimed to study the relationships between: (1) maternal metabolite signatures; (2) fetal abdominal growth; and (3) postnatal growth, adiposity, and neurodevelopment.
Methods: In the prospective, multinational, observational INTERBIO-21st fetal study, conducted in maternity units in Pelotas (Brazil), Nairobi (Kenya), Karachi (Pakistan), Soweto (South Africa), Mae Sot (Thailand), and Oxford (UK), we enrolled women (≥18 years, …

Impact Of Training For Contraceptive Provision At Title X Clinics: Evidence From South Carolina - October 2022, Center For Applied Reasearch And Evaluation In Women's Health, East Tennessee State University

Center for Applied Research and Evaluation (CARE) in Women's Health Issue Briefs

Choose Well (CW), an ongoing statewide contraceptive access initiative in South Carolina, was launched in 2017 and aimed to implement contraceptive care best practices via training and funding for contraceptive methods. As part of the initiative, clinics within the South Carolina Health Department (DHEC clinics), which is the state’s Title X agency, received trainings in the areas of administrative support, contraceptive counseling, and device placement and removal, in addition to funding for contraceptive devices. Title X Family Planning program is a federal program that provides reproductive health services for low-income patients through a network of safety–net clinics. While Title X …

Lenvatinib Plus Pembrolizumab In Japanese Patients With Endometrial Cancer: Results From Study 309/Keynote-775, Kan Yonemori, Mayu Yunokawa, Kimio Ushijima, Jun Sakata, Ayumi Shikama, Shinichiro Minobe, Tomoka Usami, Takayuki Enomoto, Kazuhiro Takehara, Kosei Hasegawa, Wataru Yamagami, Keiko Yamamoto, Shirong Han, Lea Dutta, Robert Orlowski, Takuma Miura, Vicky Makker, Keiichi Fujiwara

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Study 309/KEYNOTE-775 is a phase 3 open-label, randomized trial of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab versus treatment of physician's choice (TPC) in patients with advanced endometrial cancer with progression after platinum-based therapy. Primary endpoints of superiority for lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab were met for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in all-comers (ie, regardless of mismatch repair [MMR] status) and patients with MMR proficiency (pMMR). We present results for the Japanese subset. Patients were randomized to oral lenvatinib 20 mg/day plus intravenous pembrolizumab 200 mg every 3 weeks (Q3W; up to 35 cycles of pembrolizumab) or TPC (intravenous doxorubicin 60 mg/m

Use Of Breast Surveillance Between Women With Pathogenic Variants And Variants Of Uncertain Significance In Breast Cancer Susceptibility Genes, Sukh Makhnoon, Minxing Chen, Brooke Levin, Megan Ensinger, Kristin D Mattie, Generosa Grana, Sanjay Shete, Banu K Arun, Susan K Peterson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Use of surveillance mammography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been understudied among women with variant of uncertain significance (VUS) compared to pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants (P/LP).

METHODS: Using data from two cancer settings, we calculated use of risk-reducing mastectomy (RRM) and surveillance during each 13-month span after genetic testing up to 6 years afterwards for a cohort of genetically elevated risk women.

RESULTS: Of 889 women, VUS carriers were less likely to undergo RRM compared to those with P/LP (hazard ratio [HR], 0.17; p =

CONCLUSION: The authors found that VUS, whether in high or moderate penetrance …

Intimate-Partner Violence And Its Association With Symptoms Of Depression, Perceived Health, And Quality Of Life In The Himalayan Mountain Villages Of Gilgit Baltistan, Gul Nowshad, Neelum Jahan, Nasim Zahid Shah, Nasloon Ali, Tazeen Saeed Ali, Sartaj Alam, Ambreen Khan, Mohammad Afzal Mahmood, Malika Saba, Syed M. Shah

Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health

Study objectives: We aimed to estimate the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and associated risk factors in married women in rural villages of Gilgit Baltistan in Pakistan.
Methods: A cross-sectional design to assess the magnitude and factors associated with IPV in a random sample of 789 married women aged 18-49 years. A World Health Organization screening instrument was used to assess the presence of IPV in the previous 12 months. A locally validated instrument was adopted to identify self-reported symptoms of major depression according to the DSM IV. Trained nurses obtained socio-demographic and reproductive history through structured interviews. Bivariate …

Public Health Liberation – An Emerging Transdiscipline To Elucidate And Transform The Public Health Economy, Christopher Williams Mph, Joy Birungi Msc, Melody Brown Mph, Mhsa, James Deutsch Md, Phd, Felecia Williams Phd, Mpa, P.S. Perkins Ma, Patricia Bishop, Dena Walker, Ebony Moody, Rhonda Hamilton Ma, Jehan El-Bayoumi Md

Advances in Clinical Medical Research and Healthcare Delivery

Public Health Liberation (PHL) is an innovative general theory of public health aimed at accelerating health equity. This paper provides a rich synthesis of philosophical traditions, novel theories, and approaches to establish the basis for a new public health transdiscipline. The authors argue that the "public health economy" as a single analytic lens elucidates the contradictions and tensions that reproduce vast health inequity. Authored by a majority of Black women, community experiences and perspectives are a major strength of this paper because they draw upon leadership experiences with contemporary issues.

The authors begin by describing their background in public health …

Adapting The Fast-M Maternal Sepsis Intervention For Implementation In Pakistan: A Qualitative Exploratory Study, Sheikh Irfan Ahmed, Bakhtawar M H. Khowaja, Rubina Barolia, Raheel Sikandar, Ghulam Kubra Rind, Sehrish Rani, Raheela Rani, James Cheshire, Catherine Louise Dunlop, Lumaan Sheikh

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Objective: A maternal sepsis management bundle for resource-limited settings was developed through a synthesis of evidence and international consensus. This bundle, called 'FAST-M' consists of: Fluids, Antibiotics, Source control, assessment of the need to Transport/Transfer to a higher level of care and ongoing Monitoring (of the mother and neonate). The study aimed to adapt the FAST-M intervention including the bundle care tools for early identification and management of maternal sepsis in a low-resource setting of Pakistan and identify potential facilitators and barriers to its implementation.
Setting: The study was conducted at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, which …

Motherhood Together: Effects Of An Adapted Prenatal Curriculum On Mother And Infant Outcomes, Rebecca Lovan, Clare Brown, Keneshia Bryant-Moore, Leslie Mccormack, Nicole Ward, Shannon Kalkwarf, Beverly English, Elizabeth Riley

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Background: Research shows that pregnant women experiencing housing insecurity are more likely to face barriers to prenatal care that can lead to negative health outcomes for both mother and infant. Previous studies have also shown that prenatal education programs provide pregnant mothers with the knowledge and resources that increase the likelihood of positive health outcomes. An interprofessional healthcare team in Central Arkansas modified an existing prenatal education program to create Motherhood Together, a program specifically tailored for pregnant women facing house insecurity.

Methods: The purpose of this initial evaluation of the Motherhood Together program was to identify the feasibility of …

Birthing While Black: The Maternal Health Experiences In Kansas, Joi Wickliffe, Alicia O’Neal, Kyla Morris, Todd Moore, Michelle L. Redmond, Sharla Smith

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The state of maternal health and infant mortality in the United States is far worse than 33 developed countries (CDCP NCHS, 2018). Black mothers and infants die at twice the rate in comparison to mothers and infants of other races (CDC, 2020). Infant mortality is the death of a child before the age of one. The Sisters and Brothers for Healthy Infants Initiative focuses on education, community engagement, elevating the voices of Black mothers and fathers, and a community birthday party to celebrate Black infants first birthday. This signature event is known as Celebrate Day 366, a day to share …