Although medical and technological advances in maternity care have drastically reduced maternal and infant mortality, these interventions have become commonplace if not routine. Used appropriately, they can be life-saving procedures. Routine use, without valid indications, can transform childbirth from a normal physiologic process and family life event into a medical or surgical procedure. Every intervention presents the possibility of untoward effects and additional risks that engender the need for more interventions with their own inherent risks. Unintended consequences to intrapartum interventions make it imperative that nurse educators work with other professionals to promote natural childbirth processes and advocate for policies that focus on ensuring informed consent and alternative choices. Interdisciplinary collaboration can ensure that intrapartum caregivers "first do no harm."The Journal of Perinatal Education, 22(2),[83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92] http://dx

The experiences of 19 Japanese high school students in a homestay program are described. They were interviewed three times during their academic year in Canada; 13 of the students were interviewed again in Japan four months later. Although students made gains in English proficiency, several expressed dissatisfaction with the organization of the homestays. They were distressed by the lack of information provided prior to departure and the inaccurate representation of their homestay environments. Students complained about lack of access to counselling promised. Despite significant agency fees, no tuition was paid to schools, no stipend was paid to homestay families, and the students felt that little program money was spent monitoring their progress. Although the problems associated with this particular program may be isolated, there should be no tolerance for homestays that do not safeguard the students' interests. The authors make suggestions for stricter regulations regarding agencies offering homestay experiences.

On a medical mission into rural mountainous regions of Haiti, the authors were charged with teaching safer childbirth practices to untrained, mostly illiterate traditional birth attendants (TBA) who spoke HaitianCreole. In this isolated region with no physician or accessible hospital, almost all births occur at home. With no electricity, safe water supply, or sanitation facilities, childbirth education was a challenge. Accustomed to electronic, high-tech teaching aids, these childbirth educators had to modify educational strategies for these extraordinary circumstances. A successful solution was to revive decades-old teaching techniques and visual aids once used in Lamaze classes. The purpose of this article is to describe the teaching environment, the target audience, and the low-tech approach to childbirth education in Haiti.

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the perception of women regarding long-term effects of childbirth education on future health-care decision making. This qualitative study used a purposive sample of 10 women who participated in facilitated focus groups. Analysis of focus group narratives provided themes in order of prevalence: (a) self-advocacy, (b) new skills, (c) anticipatory guidance, (d) control, (e) informed consent, and (f) trust. This small exploratory study does not answer the question of whether childbirth education influences future health-care decision making, but it demonstrates that the themes and issues from participants who delivered 15–30 years ago were comparable to current findings in the literature.

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