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Reflections on Midwifery edited by Mavis Kirkham and Elizabeth Perkins

Price: NZ$76.50 (add to order)

First published in the UK 1997; 210 pages; 24.5 x 17 cms;

Index to this page:

Table of Contents; About the Author; Book Reviews

Table of Contents:

Contributors; Introduction; Chapter 1: (p.26) The Concept of "Continuity"--What Does It Mean? Gay Lee; Chapter 2: (p.26) Continuity and Choice in Practice: A Study of a Community Based Team Midwifery Scheme, Elizabeth R. Perkins and Judith Unell; Chapter 3: (p. 47) Choice in the Face of Uncertainty, Helen Stapleton; Chapter 4: (p.70) "Willing Handmaidens of Science"?: The Struggle Over the New Midwife in Earlier Twentieth Century England, Brooke V. Heagerty: Chapter 5: (p.96) Support and Control in Labour: Doulas and Midwives, Diane Walters and Mavis J. Kirkham: Chapter 6: (p.114) Control for Black and Minority Ethnic Women: A Meaningless Pursuit, Euranis Neile; Chapter 7: (p.135) Midwives and Debriefing, Pauleene Hammett; Chapter 8: (p.160) Midwives Coping: Thinking About Change,Elizabeth R. Perkins; Chapter 9: (p.183) Stories and Childbirth, Mavis J. Kirkham; Index (p.205)

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About the Author:

Editors are Mavis Kirkham, Professor of Midwifery, University of Sheffield, UK and Elizabeth Perkins, Training and Development Consultant, Nottingham, UK. Other contributors are listed next to the chapter topics above

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Book Reviews:

From the book cover: 'In recent years, since the publication of the Winterton Report and Changing Childbirth, there has been considerable impetus to improve childbearing experiences for women, and the midwife's own skill and job satisfaction. Whilst this is obiviously very progressive, and for all the right reasons, there is nonetheless a danger of trying to implement ideas that are essentially slogans rather than fully analysed concepts.

Without analysis, there is insufficient conceptual basis on which to build strtegic plans, and little sense of strategic priorities in the face of funding cuts. But even within analysis, there is still a particular need to examine ironies, dilemmas and contradictions that may be present. ... This ... book successfully does that ... by actively reflecting on a broad but perinent range of key midwifery issues ...,

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