PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Cecilia Benoit

Publications and source records attributed to Cecilia Benoit.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Decentred comparative research: Context sensitive analysis of maternal health care.

Cross-national comparison is an important tool for health care research, but too often those who use this method fail to consider important inter-national differences in the social organisation of health care and in the relationship between health care practices and social experience. In this article we make the case for a context-sensitive and reflexive analysis of health care that allows researchers to understand the important ways that health care systems and practices are situated in time and place. Our approach--decentred comparative research--addresses the often unacknowledged ethnocentrism of traditional comparative research. Decentred cross-national research is a method that draws on the socially situated and distributed expertise of an international research team to develop key concepts and research questions. We used the decentred method to fashion a multilevel framework that used the meso level of organisation (i.e., health care organisations, professional groups and other concrete organisations) as an analytical starting point in our international study of maternity care in eight countries. Our method departs from traditional comparative health systems research that is most often conducted at the macro level. Our approach will help researchers develop new and socially robust knowledge about health care.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed2005

Understanding the social organisation of maternity care systems: midwifery as a touchstone.

Theories of professions and healthcare organisation have difficulty in explaining variation in the organisation of maternity services across developed welfare states. Four countries - the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands and Canada - serve as our case examples. While sharing several features, including political and economic systems, publicly-funded universal healthcare and favourable health outcomes, these countries nevertheless have distinct maternity care systems. We use the profession of midwifery, found in all four countries, as a 'touchstone' for exploring the sources of this diversity. Our analysis focuses on three key dimensions: (1) welfare state approaches to legalising midwifery and negotiating the role of the midwife in the division of labour; (2) professional boundaries in the maternity care domain; and (3) consumer mobilisation in support of midwifery and around maternity issues.

Canada↗
PubMed2005

Community-academic research on hard-to-reach populations: benefits and challenges.

In this article, the authors examine some of the benefits and challenges associated with conducting research on hard-to-reach/hidden populations: in this instance, sex workers. The population studied was female and male sex workers working in different sectors of the sex industry in a medium-size Canadian metropolitan area. The authors describe the need for close community-academic cooperation, given the hidden and highly stigmatized nature of the target population that was investigated and the local context in which the research project was embedded. The authors discuss the main benefits and challenges of the research collaboration for the various parties involved, including the community partner organization, indigenous research assistants, and academic research team. They conclude with a discussion of strategies to help overcome the main challenges faced during the research endeavor.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

The rhetoric of "natural" in natural childbirth: childbearing women's perspectives on prolonged pregnancy and induction of labour.

It is widely known that the notion of prolonged pregnancy, defined medically as 41+ or 42+ weeks gestation, has been hotly debated within the medical and midwifery communities for many decades. Within this debate, pregnant women's voices have rarely been heard. Presented here are the results of a qualitative study of self-care in pregnancy, birth and lactation with a non-random sample of women in British Columbia, Canada. A panel of 27 women was interviewed in the third trimester of pregnancy, and 23 of the same participants were re-interviewed post-partum (50 interviews in total). Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically. Many of the women said they favoured a natural birth and were opposed to labour induction at the time of the first interview. Yet all but one of the ten women who went beyond 40 weeks gestation used self-help measures to stimulate labour. These women did not perceive prolonged pregnancy as a medical problem per se. Rather they saw it as an inconvenience, a worry to their friends, families and maternity care providers, and a prolongation of physical discomfort. The findings are interpreted by examining the literature on the medicalization/healthicization of childbirth.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

In search of a healing place: Aboriginal women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Research on general health service delivery in urban areas of Canada shows that Aboriginal people face formidable barriers in accessing culturally appropriate and timely care. Over the past decade, Urban Aboriginal Health Centres (UAHCs) have emerged to address the unmet health concerns of Aboriginal people living in metropolitan areas of the country. The purpose of this research was to address the gap in social science literature on how the health care concerns of Aboriginal women are being met by UAHCs. The research aimed to give voice to Aboriginal women by asking them whether the appropriate professional services and educational programs they need to address their health care needs were being provided in the inner city. A case-study approach was used whereby three separate focus groups were conducted with Aboriginal women who were clients of the Vancouver Native Health Society (VNHS), its sister organization, Sheway, or residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES). In addition, twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with VNHS staff, health providers, government representatives, and community leaders in health care (total n=61). The findings indicate that despite efforts from various quarters to articulate the health and social concerns of the country's marginalized populations, such has not been the case for Aboriginal women living in one of Canada's most prosperous cities. Many Aboriginal women expressed a strong desire for a Healing Place, based on a model of care where their health concerns are addressed in an integrated manner, where they are respected and given the opportunity to shape and influence decision-making about services that impact their own healing.

American Indian or Alaska Native↗
PubMed2003

Comparative studies in maternity care.

This fourth paper in a series on research emphasises the importance of conducting comparative research across cultures and countries. It highlights the advantages of such research and outlines some methodological issues inherent within it.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗