Perspectives of health service providers in delivering best-practice care for Aboriginal mothers and their babies during the postnatal period
February 2023
Citation:
Jones, J., Durey, A., Strobel, N. et al. Perspectives of health service providers in delivering best-practice care for Aboriginal mothers and their babies during the postnatal period. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 23, 8 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-05136-6
Research suggests Aboriginal babies in WA are not receiving adequate primary health care in their first three months of life, leading to questions about enablers and barriers to delivering such care.
Led by Dr Jocelyn Jones, Aboriginal Research Program Leader at NDRI, this paper presents findings from research investigating the perceptions and experiences of 58 health providers who deliver care to Aboriginal mothers and infants regarding best and current practice in discharge planning, postnatal care and health education for Aboriginal mothers and their newborn babies.
It found factors enabling best practice included health providers following best practice guidelines, adequate staffing levels and providing continuity of care throughout pregnancy, birth and postnatally.
Barriers to delivering best practice and continuity of care included poor communication between different health and social services, insufficient hospital staffing levels leading to early discharge, inadequate cultural training and delayed receipt of discharge summaries by Aboriginal primary health services.
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