| 1. |
- Semasaka Sengoma, Jean Paul, 1976-
(författare)
-
Pregnancy and delivery-related complications in Rwanda : prevalence, associated risk factors, health economic impact, and maternal experiences
- 2018
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Every year more than 1.5 million women suffer from pregnancy and delivery-related complications (PDCs) during pregnancy and childbirth worldwide, and these women are a vulnerable population for lifelong consequences, somatically, psychologically and financially. Following the establishment of Millennium Development Goal no 5, which targeted a reduction of 75% of the maternal mortality ratio from 1990 to 2015, many efforts were made to reduce maternal mortality worldwide. In low-income countries saving a pregnant woman’s life requires a focused medical intervention so that near-miss cases of death are considered as obstetric success and thus postpartum follow-up may be neglected. In Rwanda, maternal mortality is estimated to 210 per 100,000 live births and main obstetric complications are hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, obstructive/prolonged labour, post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) and sepsis/infections. However, the specific prevalence of PDCs as well as their consequences to the woman and her family is currently relatively unknown.Aims: The overall aim of this thesis was to determine the prevalence of PDCs and their associated risk factors and to investigate delivered women’s experiences of PDCs, the consequences of these complications on postpartum health and family situation, and to estimate the societal economic costs of pregnancy, delivery and postpartum-related problems.Subjects and methods: A population-based cross-sectional study including 921 women who gave birth within the past 13 months prior to time of data collection (Paper I) and a health facility-based study including 817 women that were at discharge time (Paper II) were conducted in the Northern Province of Rwanda and Kigali City. Fifteen women who experienced PDCs were interviewed through individual in-depth qualitative interviews (Paper III). A micro costing approach to collect health facility data and household costs including opportunity cost, transport and food cost was conducted to estimate the societal economic cost of PDCs (Paper I-V). Descriptive statistics, Chi-Square, bi- and multivariable logistic regression, Cox regression, and health economic analysis were applied for quantitative data analyses (Papers I, II and IV). Qualitative manifest and latent content analysis was used for qualitative data analyses (Paper III).Results: Prevalence of anaemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus during pregnancy, and severe bleeding during pregnancy and labour were estimated to 15.0%, 4.9%, 2.4%, and 3.7%, respectively (Paper I). In total, 56.4% of the participants were transferred and the majority were transferred from health centres to district hospitals, with caesarean section (CS) as the main reason for transfer. Almost three-quarters of the women started labour spontaneously; 5% had induced labour and 28.4% of all pregnant women were delivered by CS (Paper II). Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, PPH, and caesarean section (CS) due to prolonged labour/dystocia represented 1%, 2.7% and 5.4% of all participants, respectively (Paper II). Risk factors for CS due to prolonged labour or dystocia were poverty, nulliparity, and residence far from health facility (Paper II). The prevalence of poor-self rated health (poor-SRH) for participants who gave birth within the past 14 months prior to time of data collection was 32.2% at one day postpartum, 7.8% at one month, and 11.7% at time of the interview (Paper I). Most participants who had experienced PDCs reported that they were previously unaware of the complications they had developed, and they claimed that at discharge they should have been better informed about the potential consequences of these complications (Paper III). Most participants blamed the health care system as the cause of their problems due to the provision of inadequate care. Participants elaborated different strategies for coping with persistent health problems (Paper III). PDCs negatively affected participants’ economic situation due to increased health care expenses and lowered income because of impaired working capacity (Paper III). The estimated total societal cost of a normal uncomplicated vaginal delivery was 107 United States dollars (USD). The incremental cost of a vaginal delivery followed by PPH was 55 USD. The incremental cost of prolonged, dystocic or obstructed labour resulting in a CS was 146 USD. The incremental cost of pre-eclampsia with vaginal delivery and pre-eclampsia with CS were 289 and 339 USD, respectively. The major cost categories of the estimated costs for each mode of delivery were staff, the hospitalisation rooms, and household expenditures (Paper IV).Conclusions: A high prevalence of poor self-rated health status was reported in the early postpartum period. Identified factors associated with poor-SRH were severe bleeding, hypertension, infection, and anaemia during pregnancy and postpartum haemorrhage. The estimated prevalences of specific pregnancy and delivery-related complications were relatively low, probably in part due to underestimation. Rwandan women experiencing PDCs are facing many challenges and problems during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum period. The costs of PDCs were calculated to be very high in comparison to the net median monthly wage in Rwanda. In addition, the Rwandan health system presents weaknesses in relation to the prevention of PDCs. Above all, there is an insufficient postpartum health care provision and community support to women experiencing PDCs. The results from this thesis call for interventions, to improve the postpartum health care services and call for the community sensitisation for the increased support to women who face difficult living circumstances because they have experienced severe pregnancy and delivery-related complications.
|
|
| 2. |
- Hayati, Elli Nur, 1966-
(författare)
-
Domestic violence against women in rural Indonesia : searching for multilevel prevention
- 2013
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Domestic violence has been recognized globally as one of the most important Public Health concerns with severe negative health consequences for the exposed women. Through UN bodies several international milestones have successfully pushed attention towards worldwide improvements in the life situations of women. Since the ratification of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1984, significant positive changes towards equality between men and women in Indonesia have been initiated, one being the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act in 2004. However, there is still a need to improve the knowledge about what preventive measures that are feasible and work in different settings. This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of appropriate prevention strategies against domestic violence in rural Indonesia by exploring: i) risk factors for domestic violence; ii) women’s ways of coping with exposure to violence; iii) men’s views on masculinity and violence within marriage; and iv) challenges faced by local service agency in managing services for women survivors of domestic violence.Methods: Data from a cross sectional population based study was used to analyze risk factors for physical and sexual abuse among a cohort of pregnant women in Purworejo district. Further, a qualitative phenomenological interview study was conducted to reveal the dynamics of coping among women survivors of domestic violence in the same district. A Grounded Theory study based on focus group discussions with men formed the basis for a situational analysis of the linkage between masculinity and the use of violence within marriage. Finally, a qualitative case study was performed to explore the management practices of a local service agency in the district, to understand the challenges faced in their efforts to address domestic violence.Results: Sexual violence was associated with husbands’ demographic characteristics (age and low educated) and women’s economic independence. Exposure to physical violence among women was strongly associated with husbands’ personal characteristics. The attitudes and norms expressed by women confirmed unequal gender relationships. Experiencing violence led women to using an elastic band coping strategy, moving between actively opposing the violence and surrendering or tolerating the situation. The national gender equality policies were shown to have played a crucial role in transforming gender power relations among men and women (the gender order) in the Indonesian society. Three different positions of masculinity were identified, the traditionalist, the egalitarian, and the progressive, with different beliefs about men’s role within marriage and with various levels of accepting the use of violence. Long term structural preventive efforts and individual interventions targeted to the conflicting couples were preferred over reporting the abuser to the authorities. The major challenges faced by the local service agency were the low priority given by the authorities, mirrored also in low involvement in the daily service by the assigned volunteers. The local agency also stammered in translating the current law and policies into a society that held on to traditional and religious norms regulating the relationships between men and women.Conclusion: Overall, this thesis illustrates that sociocultural traditions and religious teaching still viscously influence people’s attitudes and beliefs about the use of violence within relationships. Domestic violence has not been accepted as a criminal act but is still to a large extent seen as a private family affair. Culturally sensitive programs aimed to bridging the gap between the current laws and policies and the socio-cultural traditions need to be further developed to protect women from domestic violence and increase gender equity in the Indonesian setting.
|
|
| 3. |
- Eriksson, Ulla-Britt, 1949-
(författare)
-
"Man är ju inte mer än människa" : Långtidssjukskrivning ur ett emotionellt, relationellt och strukturellt perspektiv
- 2009
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The background to this thesis is the dramatic increase of the long-term sickness absence that took place in Sweden from the late 1990s. There was also a shift in the diagnostic pattern with rising mental diagnoses. The overall purpose was to describe and try to understand the process leading to long-term sickness absence from the perspective of the sickness absentees, in order to get a better knowledge base for preventive and rehabilitative actions. The thesis comprises four studies (I-IV). Research methods have been both qualitative and quantitative. In study I data from individual interviews with 32 persons on long-term sick leave due to burnout was analyzed using a grounded theory approach. In study II the study population comprised of 2064 employed sick-listed persons, a sub sample derived from the 2002 national Swedish survey on health, working conditions, life situation and sick-listing. It was analyzed if persons with burnout had higher probability of having experienced the steps in the burnout staircase compared to other diagnostic groups in accordance with the previously suggested hypothesis of "the burnout staircase". Study III comprised of 2521 employed persons, a sub sample derived from the same national survey as in study II. It was analyzed if psychosocial work environment and conflicts and losses in private life independently or in combination were more strongly associated to sickness absence with mental diagnoses as compared to a healthy population. In study IV individual interviews with 25 professional rehabilitation actors and 14 unemployed sick-listed persons were conducted. Data were analyzed according to grounded theory method. The process that led to sicknes absence can be described as an emotional deprivation process, illustrated as a flight of stairs (the burnout staircase) describing a sequence of steps toward sickness absence (I). In accordance with the tested hypothesis persons with burnout to a noticeable higher extent reported expereince of being in the different steps in the burnout staircase compared to sickness absentees with other diagnoses. The model seemed to be valid also for persons with other mental diagnoses (II). Reorganization and conflicts at work as well as adding adverse private life events were associated with increased risk for sickness absence with mental diagnosis (III). Three significant factors behind the weak co-operation between local social insurance and employment agencies were identified: indistinct regulation of co-operation, shifting political goals over time and conflicting goals between agencies (IV). In this thesis it has been suggested that the course of events preceding sickness absence might be understood as a process of emotional deprivation, where the individual is gradually emptied of the life-giving emotional energy revealed in joy, commitment, and empathy. This life-giving force finds its nourishment in safe and secure social relations with others and in a social structure that promotes this type of social relations. The profound changes in the Swedish labour market during the 1990s influenced not just the psychosocial work climate but also the rehabilitation efforts for unemployed sick-listed persons. When the political goal of reducing the unemployment level came to the forefront the indistinct regulation and the conflicting goals in addition were factors that impaired co-ordinated rehabilitation. In this process also the physicians were involved. A labour market problem was turned into a medical problem.
|
|
