BIRTH ACTIVIST INFORMATION
BIRTHNETWORK'S LOCAL ADVOCACY - BECOME
A LOCAL BIRTH ACTIVIST
Attend BirthNetwork National Chapter Meetings.
Monthly chapter meetings offer consumers as well as birth professionals
the opportunity to network with a variety of people and learn about
topics related to pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and breastfeeding as
well as a host of advocacy and family-related issues.
Meetings are free and encourage mother-to-mother
support and the ability to make informed choices for safe and
satisfying childbirth.
Learn the principles of Mother-Friendly care.
Read the Coalition for Improving Maternity Service’s “Mother-Friendly” Childbirth Initiative (MFCI):
Established in 1996, the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services
(CIMS) is a collaborative effort of numerous individuals and more than
50 organizations representing over 90,000 members. Their mission is to
promote a wellness
model of maternity care that will improve birth
outcomes and substantially reduce costs.
CIMS is the author of the evidence-based
Mother-Friendly
Childbirth Initiative (MFCI),
which provides guidelines for identifying and designating
“mother-friendly” birth sites including hospitals, birth centers and
home-birth services. The initiative outlines ten steps for
mother-friendly care. A consumer version of the Initiative,
“Having
a Baby? Ten Questions to Ask” is also available.
Insist on evidence-based maternity care from your physician or midwife for your pregnancy, labor and birth.
What is Evidence-based Maternity care?
According to Childbirth Connection—formerly the Maternity Center
Association--Evidence-based Maternity Care” means using the best
research about the safety and effectiveness of specific tests,
treatments, and other interventions to help guide maternity care
decisions.
Learn more about evidence-based maternity care:
Childbirth Connection
Childbirth Connection—formerly the Maternity Center Association—defines Evidence-based Maternity Care as well as offers resources on
Informed
Decision Making,
Informed
Consent and Informed Refusal.
This comprehensive site offers articles on evidence-based care on a
variety of topics.
Childbirth Connection also offers a full-text version of the 3rd edition of
A
Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth,
which is an overview of results of the best available research about
the effects of specific maternity practices. The book brings together
the concerted work of a large international network of researchers,
administrators, and consumers (Authors: M. Enkin, M.J.N.C. Keirse, J.
Nielson, C. Crowther, L. Duley, E. Hodnett, and J. Hofmeyr, Oxford
University Press, 2000).
Childbirth Connection developed the First National U.S. Survey of Women's Childbearing Experiences called
Listening
to Mothers, a survey to better understand women's maternity experiences and ways to
improve these experiences. This historic survey is the first time that
women in the U.S. have been systematically polled at the national level
about their maternity experiences. The survey focuses the discussion of
maternity care in the U.S. on the people who care about it most:
mothers themselves.
Consortium for the Evidence-Based Practice of Obstetrics (CEO)
CEO provides information on evidence-based birth care for healthy women
with normal pregnancies and protecting the ethical and constitutional
rights of competent adult women to have control over the manner and
circumstances of pregnancy and normal birth.
Informed Choice—Providing Evidence-Based Information
for Consumers and Professionals (MIDIRS)
A comprehensive set of 21 Informed Choice leaflets examines key
decisions facing expectant mothers during pregnancy, labor and
afterwards in assisting them to make informed choices.
MIDIRS (Midwives Information and Resource Service)
is an educational charity that began in 1985. This comprehensive
website is a wealth of information relating to childbirth for midwives
and others, both nationally and internationally, thereby assisting them
to improve maternity care.
MIDIRS Midwifery Digest provides maternity health
professionals with an overview of key midwifery and medical research to
inform their practice. The information is gathered from over 550
international journals and original articles commissioned on the hot
topics being discussed by the midwifery profession.
MIDIRS Enquiry Service provides access to more
in-depth information and topics of interest. The information is drawn
from a database of over 100,000 articles. Some 1,000 new references are
added each month to this valuable resource.
The Cochrane Collection: Cochrane Library (2006) Pregnancy and Childbirth
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit and
independent organization, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate
information about the effects of healthcare readily available
worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of
healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the
form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Care in Normal Birth: A Practical Guide”
The Guide includes WHO’s recommendations for the First, Second and Third Stage of Labor.
The World Health Organization is the United Nation’s specialized agency
for health and was established in 1948. WHO’s objective is the
attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine
There are over 15 million citations for medical articles dating back to
the 1950s. These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science
journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text
articles and other related sources.
Healthy Pregnancy–The National Women’s Information Center
(A project of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health)
The National Women’s Health Information Center (NWHIC) is a service of
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health.
The NWHIC provides a gateway to the vast array of Federal and other
women’s health information resources. There is a wide variety of
women’s health-related material developed by the Department of Health
and Human Services, other Federal agencies, and private sector
resources.
Lamaze International Position Paper “Promoting, Protecting and Supporting Normal Birth”
The mission of Lamaze International is to promote, support and protect normal birth through education and advocacy.
Online Medical, Nursing and Midwifery Journals
ACOG Clinical
Review (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)
American
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
American Journal
of Perinatology
Birth:
Issues in Perinatal Care
British Medical Journal
Evidence-Based Nursing
Evidence-Based Obstetrics and Gynecology
Human Reproduction
Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of Human Lactation
The Journal of Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health
Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Neonatal Nursing
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Journal of Perinatal Education
The Lancet
Midwifery
Midwifery Today
New England Journal of Medicine
Obstetrics and Gynecology (also known as “The Green Journal”)
Reproductive Health