Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women's experiences accessing standard hospital care for birth in South Australia – A phenomenological study

Brown, Angela; Fereday, Jennifer; Middleton, Philippa; Pincombe, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.wombi.2016.01.004

Cited by 51 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Efforts should be made to ensure that appropriate maternity care is available as close to Aboriginal women's homes as possible. Where this is not practicable, Aboriginal women from regional and remote areas should have access to AMIC workers to improve continuity of carer, particularly in instance where women relocate to a large metropolitan hospital for birth [11].…”

Section: Strategies To Improve Continuity Of Carementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared to non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal Australians experience a significant level of disadvantage in health, life expectancy, education, employment and living standards [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. These disparities are evident when considering maternal and infant health outcomes, with higher rates of gestational diabetes and smoking during pregnancy among Aboriginal women, rates of preterm birth and low birth weight nearly double among Aboriginal babies, perinatal mortality rates of Aboriginal infants 50% higher than those of non-Aboriginal infants, and maternal mortality rates of Aboriginal women nearly three times higher compared to their non-Aboriginal counterparts [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Maternal and infant health outcomes worsen with increasing remoteness, due to challenges in health service provision and delivery [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Healthcare services can contribute to the reduction in existing health disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women and their infants, through the provision of timely, effective and appropriate maternal and child healthcare [9,11,17,19,23,24]. Health services delivered by a suitably trained and qualified professional throughout pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period can reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, particularly among women whose health status is poor [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, Aboriginal women frequently perceived available services as culturally unsafe. A biomedical model of care underpins most mainstream health services in Australia, which can be at odds with traditional Aboriginal ways of giving birth [ 5 , 11 , 20 , 22 , 30 ]. Healthcare professionals are often inadequately trained and underprepared to work cross-culturally, further compounding the situation [ 30 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Healthcare professionals are often inadequately trained and underprepared to work cross-culturally, further compounding the situation [ 30 ]. Consequently, accessing maternal and infant healthcare services often results in high levels of fear and anxiety, and low attendance at subsequent appointments among Aboriginal women [ 11 , 27 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family access to continuity of health care services in the first 1000 days of life: a systematic review of the literature

Sivertsen

Anikeeva

Deverix

et al. 2020

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background: Aboriginal women and their infants experience significant disadvantage in health outcomes compared to their non-Aboriginal counterparts. Access to timely, effective and appropriate maternal and child healthcare can contribute to reducing these existing health disparities. However, accessing mainstream healthcare services often results in high levels of fear and anxiety, and low attendance at subsequent appointments among Aboriginal women, due to inefficient communication, poor service coordination and a lack of continuity of care. Methods: This integrative literature review sought to explore factors that contribute to continuity of care and consider service features that contribute to positive care experiences and satisfaction with care received by Aboriginal women and their infants. In total, 28 studies were included in the review and were thematically analysed using Braun and Clarke's six steps of thematic analysis. This was followed by a collaborative, computer-assisted qualitative analysis, which resulted in the emergence of five key themes: lack of continuity of care, impact of lack of continuity of care, continuity of care interventions, impact of continuity of care interventions, and strategies to improve continuity of care. Results: Most studies focused on health services in rural or remote Aboriginal communities and there was a lack of documented evidence of continuity of care (or lack thereof) for Aboriginal women living and birthing in regional and metropolitan areas. The majority of studies focused explicitly on continuity of care during the antenatal, birthing and immediate postnatal period, with only two studies considering continuity through to an infant's first 1000 days. Conclusion: The review highlights a lack of studies exploring continuity of care for Aboriginal families from the antenatal period through to an infants' first 1000 days of life. Included studies identified a lack of continuity in the antenatal, peri-and postnatal periods in both regional and metropolitan settings. This, along with identified strategies for enhancing continuity, have implications for communities, and healthcare services to provide appropriate and culturally safe care. It also marks an urgent need to incorporate and extend continuity of care and carer through to the first 1000 days for successful maternal and infant health outcomes for Aboriginal peoples.

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Section: Strategies To Improve Continuity Of Carementioning

confidence: 99%