Listening to the voices of mothers and public health nurses: Personal, social, and institutional aspects of early home visits
Study Background:
Funded by the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation…Home visiting by public health nurses (PHNs) is an important part of postpartum support for new parents but the practice is often invisible and misunderstood by both health care professionals and the general public. This qualitative study examined 16 mothers’, 16 PHNs’ and 4 managers’ experiences and perspectives of home visiting through semi-structured interviews. Mothers had overwhelming positive experiences with home visits by PHN and said they felt PHN support contributed to them feeling more confident with their parenting. PHNs recognized the benefits of postpartum home visits and discussed the tensions between targeted and universal home visiting, an issue that continues to be debated globally.
Our Publications:
Aston, M., Price, S., Etowa, J., Vukic, A., Young, L., Hart, C., MacLeod, E., Randel, P. (2015). The power of relationships: Exploring how public health nurses support mothers and families during postpartum home visits Journal of Family Nursing, 21(1), 11-34. doi:10.1177/1074840714561524
Aston, M., Price, S., Etowa, J., Vukic, A., Young, L., Hart, C., MacLeod, E., Randel, P. (2014). Universal and Targeted Early Home Visiting: Perspectives of Public Health Nurses and Mothers. Nursing Reports, 4(1). doi: 10.4081/nursrep.2014.3290
Tanzania Perinatal Research
Macdonald, D., Aston, M., Tomblin Murphy, G., Jefferies, K, Mselle, L., Price, S., O'Hearn, S., White, M., Mbekenga, C., & Kohi, T. (2018). Providing postpartum care with limited resources: The experiences of nurse-midwives and obstetricians in Tanzania. Women and Birth, 32(3), e391-e398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2018.07.016
Kohi, T., Mselle, L., Dol, J., Aston, M. (2018). When, where and who? Accessing health facility delivery care from the perspective of women and men in Tanzania: A qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research 18: 564. doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3357-6
Mbekenga, C., Aston, M., Kohi, T., Macdonald, D., Mselle, L., Price, S., Murphy, G. Tomblin, Murphy, White, M., O’Hearn, S. & Jefferies, K. (2018). How Tanzanian nurse midwives, and obstetricians develop postpartum relationships with women. International Journal of Childbirth 8(1), 41-53. doi:10.1891/2156- 5287.8.1.41
Kohi, T., Aston, M., Macdonald, D., Mbekenga, C., Mselle, L, Price, S., Murphy, G. Tomblin, Murphy, White, M., O’Hearn, S. & Jefferies, K. (2017). Saving lives with caring assessments: How Tanzanian nurse- midwives and obstetricians negotiate postpartum practices. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26 (23-24), 5004- 5015. doi: 10.1111/jocn.14000 [shared first author]
Mselle, L, Aston, M., Kohi, T., Macdonald, D., Mbekenga, C., White, M., Price, S., Murphy, G. Tomblin, Murphy, O’Hearn, S. & Jefferies, K. (2016). The challenges of providing postpartum education in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Narratives of nurse-midwives and obstetricians. Qualitative Health Research, 27(12), 1792-1803. doi:10.1177/1049732317717695 [shared first author]