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Background: Illegal migration is an increasing problem worldwide and the so-called undocumented migrants encounter major problems in access to prevention and health care. The objective of the study was to compare the use of preventive measures and pregnancy care of undocumented pregnant migrants with those of women from the general population of Geneva, Switzerland.

The objective of this work was to review published articles on the impact of perinatal stress on mothers' medium- or long-term psychological health and the efficacy of coping strategies, to determine if social support plays a role in the interaction between birth events and mothers' psychological experiences, and to identify the tools used for these measurements. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases were searched for English and French language articles from 2000 through 2010 inclusive. Thirty-seven articles fulfilled the selection criteria. The results of this review highlight an association between perceived stress and postpartum depressive symptoms. However, because perceived stress has been evaluated in a general manner, it was not possible to identify events having more or less relation to postpartum depressive symptoms in mothers. Social support also appeared to be related to mothers' psychological health. Coping strategies were difficult to analyze because of the lack of homogeneity in their definition across studies. The comparison among studies of social support and coping strategies was also difficult due to the diversity of tools used and their lack of specificity. New tools should be specifically developed for the perinatal period, and further research should be performed to understand better the events and adequacy of social support.

Background Migrant mothers in high-income countries often encounter more complications during pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period. To enlighten health care providers concerning potential barriers, the objective of this study was to explore positive and negative experiences with maternal health services in the University Hospitals of Geneva and Zurich and to describe barriers to maternity services from a qualitative perspective. Methods In this qualitative study, six focus groups (FGs) were conducted involving 33 women aged 21 to 40 years. All FG discussions were audio-recorded and later transcribed. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach assisted by the Atlas.ti qualitative data management software. Results Positive experiences included not only the availability of maternity services, especially during emergency situations and the postpartum period, but also the availability of specific maternity services for undocumented migrants in Geneva. Negative experiences were classified into either personal or structural barriers. On the personal level, the main barriers were a lack of social support and a lack of health literacy, whereas the main themes on the structural level were language barriers and a lack of information. Conclusion Structural adaptation is necessary to meet the needs of the extremely diverse population. The needs include (1) the provision of specific information for migrant women in multiple languages, (2) the availability of trained interpreters who are easily accessible to health care providers, (3) specifically trained nurses or social assistance providers to guide migrants through the health system, and (4) a cultural competence-training programme for health care providers.

BackgroundMigrant mothers in developed countries often experience more complicated pregnancy outcomes and less fewer women access preventive gynecology services. To enlighten health care providers to potential barriers, the objective of this paper is to explore barriers to reproductive health services in Geneva described by migrant women from a qualitative perspective.MethodsIn this qualitative study, thirteen focus groups (FG) involving 78 women aged 18 to 66 years were conducted in seven languages. All the FG discussions were audio-recorded and later transcribed. The data was classified, after which the main themes and sub-themes were manually extracted and analyzed.ResultsBarriers were classified either into structural or personal barriers aiming to describe factors influencing the accessibility of reproductive health services vs. those influencing client satisfaction. The five main themes that emerged were financial accessibility, language barriers, real or perceived discrimination, lack of information and embarrassment.ConclusionStructural improvements which might meet the needs of the emergent extremely diverse population are the (1) provision of informative material that is easy to understand and available in multiple languages, (2) provision of sensitive cultural training including competence skill for all health professionals, (3) provision of specifically trained nurses or social assistance to guide migrants through the health system and (4) inclusion of monitoring and evaluation programs for the prevention of personal and systemic discrimination.

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The aim of the authors in this study was to evaluate the relationships between perceived perinatal stress and social support to psychological health outcomes in mothers. A longitudinal, quantitative study was conducted in Geneva, Switzerland on 235 primiparous mothers from September 2010 to January 2012. Data were collected between gestational weeks 37 and 41 (T1), 2 days post-delivery (T2), and at 6 weeks postpartum (T3). Perinatal stress was associated with depressive symptoms (R = 0.223), anxiety (R = 0.242), and a low sense of parental self-efficacy (R = 0.21). However, satisfaction with social support moderated the relationship of stress to the health of mothers. In particular, the authors noted that the more women were provided with support from their partners, the less depressive symptoms and elevated levels of anxiety they reported, even under stressful conditions, while the satisfaction of support from their mothers boosted their sense of competency. Furthermore, satisfaction with emotional support from professionals tempered the stress during the post-partum period (∆R = 0.032; p < .05). The results revealed that perinatal stress was related to the psychological health of mothers, but social support may modulate these effects. A number of approaches could be implemented to manage this stress.

Recent renewed interest in uterine contractility stems from the possibility of directly visualizing uterine contractility on images generated by high‐resolution ultrasound probes. During the menstrual cycle, three typical patterns of uterine contractility have been recognized. During the luteofollicular transition and early follicular phase (menses), the contractile event involves all layers of the myometrium and exerts antegrade (from fundus to cervix) expulsive forces. Characteristically, uterine contractions are often perceived by women at the time of menses, sometimes reaching the level of painful cramps (dysmenorrhea). In the late follicular phase, uterine contractility involves only the subendometrial layers of the myometrium and is never perceived by women. The primary function of uterine contractility in the late follicular phase is to facilitate the retrograde (cervix to fundus) transport of sperm towards the distal end of the fallopian tubes where fertilization normally takes place. Finally, the uterus reaches a stage of quiescence after ovulation (under the influence of progesterone) that characterizes the major part of the luteal phase. The present review summarizes our understanding of the physiological role of uterine contractility during the follicular phase and the possible implications in pathological circumstances such as endometriosis and dysmenorrhea.