Eleni Hadjigeorgiou

Women's perceptions of their right to choose the place of childbirth: an integrative review

OBJECTIVE to provide a critical synthesis of published research concerning womens experiences in choosing where to give birth. METHOD an integrative literature review was conducted using three databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL and Ovid) for 1997-2009. Inclusion criteria were: (1) publication in the English language; (2) research article; (3) focus on womens perceptions for their birthplace choices; and (4) data collected during pregnancy, at birth and post partum. FINDINGS twenty-one research-based papers met the inclusion criteria, and these used a range of approaches and methods. Four themes were derived from the data: choice of birthplace and medicalisation of childbirth; the midwifery model of care and the rhetoric of birthplace choices; perceptions of safety shaped womens preferences; and choice is related to womens autonomy. CONCLUSION there is considerable evidence that women worldwide wish to be able to exercise their rights and make informed choices about where to give birth. The medical model remains a strong and powerful influence on womens decisions in many countries. The midwifery model offers birthplace choices to women, while policies and culture in some countries affect midwifery practise. Perceptions of safety shaped womens preferences, and womens autonomy facilitated birthplace choices. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTISE these findings can be seen as a challenge for health professionals and policy makers to improve perinatal care based on womens needs. Local research is advisable due to cultural and health system differences.

Prevalence and correlates of young people's sexual aggression perpetration and victimisation in 10 European countries: a multi-level analysis

Data are presented on young peoples sexual victimisation and perpetration from 10 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain) using a shared measurement tool (N = 3480 participants, aged between 18 and 27 years). Between 19.7 and 52.2% of female and between 10.1 and 55.8% of male respondents reported having experienced at least one incident of sexual victimisation since the age of consent. In two countries, victimisation rates were significantly higher for men than for women. Between 5.5 and 48.7% of male and 2.6 and 14.8% of female participants reported having engaged in a least one act of sexual aggression perpetration, with higher rates for men than for women in all countries. Victimisation rates correlated negatively with sexual assertiveness and positively with alcohol use in sexual encounters. Perpetration rates correlated positively with attitudes condoning physical dating violence and with alcohol use in men, and negatively with sexual assertiveness in women. At the country level, lower gender equality in economic power and in the work domain was related to higher male perpetration rates. Lower gender equality in political power and higher sexual assertiveness in women relative to men were linked to higher male victimisation rates.

Women's Perceptions of Their Right to Choose the Place of Childbirth : A Qualitative Study

OBJECTIVE: To explore Greek Cypriot womens perceptions of their right to choose the place of childbirth.DESIGN: This study is qualitative and is based on Husserls phenomenological approach. The f ...