Caroline Hollins Martin

Edinburgh Napier University · School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care

Background The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is a widely used, psychometrically robust and brief self-report measure of birth experience from the mothers perspective. The current study sought to adapt and validate the BSS-R for partners, evaluating key psychometric properties, including the underlying tri-dimensional factor structure of...

Background Maternal birth experience is being increasingly recognised as a key clinical outcome parameter. The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is a short self-report measure designed to assess birth experience. The current investigation sought to trans-late the BSS-R into Polish and validate this version of the BSS-R (PL-BSS-R). Participa...

There is increased recognition of the need to improve standards of perinatal bereavementcare, due to its frequency and potential sequelae. As part of a Fulbright Scholar award, United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) researchers collaborated to explore similarities and differences in perinatal bereavement care between two nations. Using an explo...

Background The 10-item Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is a quick and easy survey instrument recommended by the International Consortium for Health Outcome Measures as the tool of choice for measuring women’s birth satisfaction. Aim To translate and validate a Vietnamese-language version of the BSS-R. Method A quantitative cross-sectiona...

BACKGROUND: Around one-third of women experience childbirth trauma, with 3%–15% developing postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder (PP-PTSD). AIM: Explore birth satisfaction and health perception across two groups of postnatal women with either high or low trauma scores. METHOD: Forty postnatal women were divided into groups dependent upon Posttra...

Aim This study aimed to develop a Japanese version of the Birth Satisfaction Scale‐Revised and evaluate its reliability and validity. Methods After translating the Birth Satisfaction Scale‐Revised into Japanese, we conducted an Internet‐based cross‐sectional study with 445 Japanese‐speaking women within 2 months of childbirth. Of these, 98 partici...

BACKGROUND: In addition to improving maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, the World Health Organization now additionally requests that maternity care providers provide high-quality respectful care to childbearing women. Within this study, providing respectful care surrounds helping women make decisions about whether or not to have their l...

Introduction: Evaluation in healthcare services has become a priority, globally1. The Government of Ireland has highlighted the importance of stakeholder engagement to identify the needs of women in the design and delivery of high-quality health services, driven by necessity rather than financial ability2. The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS...

Background: Optimizing women's childbirth experience is essential for development of quality mother infant relationships. The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) can be used to measure birth satisfaction. Aim: The current investigation sought to translate and validate a Swedish version of the BSS-R. Method: Following translation, a compre...

Objective: This study aims to develop a Portuguese-language version of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) for clinical and research use in Portugal (PT-BSS-R). The factor structure, its invariance across depression levels, and the internal consistency of the PT-BSS-R were analysed. Method: A sample of 1373 Portuguese-speaking postpartu...

Aim: The purpose of this study was to identify the current LGBTQ+ health content within midwifery pre-registration programmes and identity education best practice and innovation. Background: There have been significant developments in some countries in protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ people. LGBTQ+ people are and do become parents and require ac...

Aim: Critical to maternal outcome and development of a healthy and relationship between mother and baby, is the woman's perception of her birth experience. The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) has been demonstrated to be psychometrically robust, easily administered, and scored self-report measure of birth experience. Aim of the study was t...

The use of ultrasound to determine gestational age is fundamental to the optimum management of pregnancy and is recommended for all women by the World Health Organization. However, this modality remains unavailable to many women in low‐income countries where trained practitioners are scarce. Although previous initiatives have demonstrated efficacy...

Background Maternity policy and guidelines increasingly recommend or stipulate the increased provision of midwifery continuity of carer as a priority model of care. The scale up and sustainability of this model will require that student midwives are competent to provide continuity of carer at the point of qualification. Guidance relating to how to...

Aim To explore factors that influence fathers’ experiences of childbirth and implications for their subsequent postnatal mental health. Background Fathers who attend the birth of their baby often have very rewarding experiences. However, those who witness a difficult birth may progress to develop subsequent mental health problems, e.g., trauma sym...

Background: Satisfaction with the birth experience has been established to be critical for the wellbeing of the mother. The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is a brief and psychometrically robust multi-dimensional self-report tool designed to assess birth experience. The current investigation sought to translate and validate a Czech Republ...

Healthy indoor environments influence the comfort, health and wellbeing of the occupants. Monitoring the indoor temperature, relative humidity and CO2 levels in primary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic was mandated by a local authority in Scotland. The aim was to investigate the comfort and safety of the teachers and their pupils. This paper pr...

The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised is a short but valid and reliable robust measure of different aspects of birth satisfaction. This study aimed to test factor structure, validity and reliability of the Croatian version of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised. In the cross-sectional study, a convenient online sample of 552 women completed questio...

Background Up to 39% of women who experience perinatal bereavement proceed to develop Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD), with this large proportion meriting treatment. Before setting-up a treatment service for postnatal women who are experiencing psychological trauma, it is important to identify what therapies have been used in-the-past to addr...

Background Recent observations suggest birth satisfaction may be significantly associated with postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PP-PTSD). The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is increasingly used Internationally as a short, valid and reliable multi-dimensional measure of birth experience. The current study sought to develop a Dutc...

LGBTQ+ people experience significant physical and psychosocial health issues and concerns, and encounter barriers when accessing healthcare services. We conducted a mixed-methods research study across all Schools of Nursing and Midwifery in the United Kingdom and Ireland using a survey and qualitative interviews. This was to identify the current co...

Zika virus is a member of the family Flaviviridae and was first identified in the 1940s. In 2007, the first outbreak of Zika virus disease was reported and this was followed by substantial outbreaks of the viral infection from 2013. In 2015, a large outbreak was reported in Brazil. Concomitant associations with Guillain-Barre syndrome and microceph...

Description Zika Virus Impact, Diagnosis, Control, and Models: Volume Two: The Neuroscience of Zika examines diagnosis, vaccines, and potential therapy methods for Zika virus syndrome. The book also details the neuroscience of Guillain-Barré syndrome, its effects and neuromuscular rehabilitation. It is designed to help readers better understand det...

Background : There has been growing attention to addressing the health inequalities and concerns of LGBTQ+ people, with research evidence highlighting areas requiring further attention and development. The distinct concerns of LGBTQ+ people when accessing midwifery care and support is an issue requiring a specific focus to ensure needs are met effe...

Rationale The concept of birth satisfaction embraces many factors, which include for example perceived quality of care provision, stress experienced, and personal coping strategies. A woman’s birth experience has the power to affect her mental health, decisions surrounding future birth planning, and quality of relationships with her partner and fam...

BACKGROUND Satisfaction with the birth experience is increasingly recognized as critical to the well-being of mother and baby and thus accurate assessment of this key dimension is essential. The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) has been shown to be a robust, valid, and reliable measure of birth experience. The current study sought to develo...

Abstract The 11th revision of the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) has identified Complex PTSD (CPTSD) as a new condition. Aim: To explore whether the new diagnosis of CPTSD (ICD11) is relevant to women who have experienced perinatal bereavement and to advance knowledge about the acceptability, feasibility and perceived impac...

Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) is taught to cultivate compassion and teach midwives how to care for themselves. The need to build midwives' resilience is recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), who advocate that mental health coping strategies be embedded into the midwifery curriculum. In this respect, CMT can be used as a resilie...

Screening for antenatal depression (AND) is clinically important, with any form of depression impacting upon women’s relationships with her partner and infant postpartum. Surprisingly, screening for AND has received relatively little attention, compared with screening for postnatal depression (PND). Nonetheless, research-informed observations indic...

Objective To validate the Italian-language version of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) and report key measurement properties of the tool. To evaluate the impact of antenatal class attendance on BSS-R assessed birth satisfaction. Background Maternal satisfaction is one of the standards of care defined by the World Health Organisation (W...

This is an educational paper which aims to inform midwives of tools available to help them make appropriate provisional diagnosis of perinatal depression. A second aim of the paper is to increase midwives' awareness of the relatively newer diagnosis of antenatal depression (AND). Of additional clinical importance, midwives need to recognise that po...

BACKGROUND Behavioral and medical science is currently in the grip of a “replication crisis,” circumscribed by the failure to replicate a large proportion of key studies and a consequential impact on confidence in the veracity of the scientific method. Given the contemporary nature of the debate it is surprising that the psychometric properties of...

Childbirth satisfaction may positively affect maternal intention to have a future pregnancy and preference to have a cesarean. We translate the UK-Birth-Satisfaction-Scale-Revised (UK-BSS-R) into Persian and validate an Iranian-BSS-R for future use in this population. In total, 784 mothers who were hospitalized in postpartum wards completed the Per...

Background: Maternal childbirth dissatisfaction has short- and long-term negative effects on the mothers' health and life, as well as on relation with her child and family. Due to lack of studies in Iran and other counties, we aimed to determine pre- and during- labour predictors of low birth satisfaction. Methods: Seven hundred women with low r...

Background : In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) labelled 13% of the world's adult population as obese. This increase in obesity is accompanied by mortality and morbidity problems, with maternal obesity and its accompanying risk for mother and infant requiring to be carefully managed. Aim : To explore childbearing women with a high BMI (>...

Birth satisfaction relates to women's perceptions of their childbirth experience, with importance placed on the midwife to improve standards of the intranatal care provided. With evaluating intranatal care in mind, this paper aims to educate midwives about one particular method of measuring women's experiences of labour, which involves using the va...

BACKGROUND: Good quality midwifery care saves the lives of women and babies. Continuity of midwife carer (CMC), a key component of good quality midwifery care, results in better clinical outcomes, higher care satisfaction and enhanced caregiver experience. However, CMC uptake has tended to be small scale or transient. We used realist evaluation in...

Background: Good quality midwifery care saves the lives of women and babies. Continuity of midwife carer (CMC), a key component of good quality midwifery care, results in better clinical outcomes, higher care satisfaction and enhanced caregiver experience. However, CMC uptake has tended to be small scale or transient. We used realist evaluation in...

Background In several countries, midwifery students undertake continuity of care experiences as part of their pre-registration education. This is thought to enable the development of a woman-centred approach, as well as providing students with the skills to work in continuity models. A comprehensive overview of factors that may promote optimal lear...

Background: There is good evidence that Continuity of Midwifery Care (CMC) is associated with improved clinical outcomes, greater maternal satisfaction, and improved work experiences for midwives. Changes made to the organisation require careful implementation, with on-going evaluation to monitor progress. Aim: To develop a survey tool that inco...

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) model of statutory supervision for midwives ceased in 2017 following a change in UK legislation. In response, the Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) worked with NHS Health Boards to develop a new employer-led model of clinical supervision. The aim of this model is to help midwives provid...

Objective: Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised Indicator (BSS-RI) is a short selfreport instrument designed to measure satisfaction of the childbearing women’s experiences of labour and its outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Persian version of BSS-RI in Iranian mothers. Methods: This cross-sectional stud...

Sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and unplanned pregnancy challenge the health of Scottish teens. We conducted focus groups with teens (ages 16-19 years) recruited from an urban youth cafe in Edinburgh and assessed sexual risk-taking and protective behaviors. A trained facilitator, using a semi-structured interview guide, led the groups. We tap...

Background: Around 4% of women develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Post Childbirth (PTSD-PC). During childbirth a woman's perception of her care provider's interpersonal verbal and nonverbal relationship behaviours, termed 'Quality of Provider Interaction' are significantly associated with the development of PTSD-PC. Aims: To understand how w...

Objective and background: The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is a multi-dimensional measure which is recommended by international clinical guidelines for global use as the birth satisfaction outcome measure of choice. The current investigation sought to develop a Hebrew version of the BSS-R for use in the Jewish–Israeli context and examin...

Abstract Objective To translate and validate a Spanish-language version of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) and describe key measurement properties. Design A cross-sectional instrument validation design examining factor structure, validity and reliability. Setting Three public hospital sites in Spain. Participants 202 women who h...

Background: Postnatal depression (PND) is a key cause of maternal morbidity, with current systems of initial recognition in the UK detecting only 50% of cases. In attempts to predict those potentially at risk, this review suggests a novel approach. Aim: Implementing the concept of ‘ideal mother’ versus ‘real mother’, and asking the woman to compare...

Objective: Review primary research regarding PTSD Post-Childbirth (PTSD-PC) that focussed on Quality of Provider Interaction (QPI) from the perspective of women who developed PTSD-PC, or midwives. Background: Up to 45% of women find childbirth traumatic. PTSD-PC develops in 4% of women (18% in high-risk groups). Women’s subjective experiences of ch...

Midwifery continuity of carer (MCC) models result in better clinical outcomes for women and offer midwives a superior way of working when compared to other models of maternity care. Implementing a MCC model, a key recommendation of the Scottish Government Maternity and Neonatal Strategy Best Start, requires significant restructuring of maternity se...

Objective and background: The 10-item Birth Satisfaction Scale – Revised (BSS-R) is increasingly being used internationally as the instrument of choice for the assessment of birth satisfaction. There remains conjecture over the most appropriate way to score the instrument; subscale scores overall total score, or both approaches. The current study s...

Background: The Birth Satisfaction Scale – Revised (BSS-R) is a valid and reliable scale designed to assess women’s experiences of labour and childbirth. Objective: To assess factor structure, validity, and reliability of the Turkish Birth Satisfaction Scale – Revised (T-BSS-R) using data collected from a Turkish population. Setting: Istanbul Minis...

Objective and background: The 10-item Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) has recently been endorsed by international expert consensus for global use as the birth satisfaction outcome measure of choice. English-language versions of the tool include validated UK and US versions; however, the instrument has not, to date, been contextualised and...

Background Mood disorders are common among women during the perinatal period, impacting their well-being and that of their families. Prevalence estimates range from 8 to upwards of 40%. Variable detection of cases has been attributed to different measures used, timing of assessment, women not disclosing their feelings, and health professionals not...

Background The current study sought to develop a short birth satisfaction indicator utilising items from the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) for use as a brief measure of birth satisfaction and as a possible key performance indicator for perinatal service delivery evaluation. Building on the recently developed BSS-R, the study aimed to dev...

Post traumatic stress disorder-post childbirth (PTSD-PC) is a powerful pathophysiological reaction that occurs in response to experiencing a traumatic birth and affects between 1-6% of women. Regardless of its trigger, PTSD-PC causes significant impairment to women's social interactions, ability to work, and daily life. A key symptom of PTSD-PC is...

Objective: This research sought to test the measurement invariance of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) across United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) samples. Multiple-group measurement was tested and latent means analysis compared levels of birth satisfaction across the samples. Method: Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), d...

Background: The 10-item Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is being increasingly used internationally. The use of the measure and the concept has gathered traction in the United States following the development of a US version of the tool. A limitation of previous studies of the measurement characteristics of the BSS-R is modest sample size....

Background: A continued absence of strategies that promote self-care puts midwives at risk of experiencing symptoms of stress, empathic distress fatigue, burnout, and compassion fatigue, all of which can affect midwives' performance and the level of compassion they show to others. Aims: The objective of this paper is to outline a possible educatio...

Background Personal pronouns like ‘ I ’, ‘me’ or ‘mine’ are inextricably linked with ownership, with one key benefit of a counsellor inviting a client to consider their pronoun use being an invitation to change their awareness and understanding of a situation. Objective To gain greater understanding of the impact of inviting clients to use first p...

Background: Compassion fatigue and burnout can impact on performance of nurses. This paper explores the relationship between self-compassion, self-judgement, self-kindness, compassion, professional quality of life, and wellbeing among community nurses. Aim: To measure associations between self-compassion, compassion fatigue, wellbeing, and burno...

Backgound: Perinatal Mental Illness (PMI) is a key cause of maternal mortality and morbidity in the UK, with one goal of midwives to identify those at risk during pregnancy. At present, the system of preliminary identification of existing PMI in the UK involves the midwife asking pregnant women the Whooley questions at the antenatal booking intervi...

Objective and background: The 10-item Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is being increasingly used internationally, including the development of translated versions of the tool. However, to date, a direct comparison between the original version of the tool and a non-English language translated version has yet to be conducted. Recognising tha...

A small percentage of women present with diagnosed PTSD post childbirth; however, though this an area of increasing research and clinical interest generally, little is known about PTSD in relation to perinatal bereavement. Health professionals must however be aware of the mechanisms and models of loss following perinatal bereavement in order to ide...

Purpose: By the very nature of the role, student therapists experience incidents that can be emotionally challenging. In response to such events, they may experience compassion fatigue, stress, burnout, and self-criticism, which in turn alters their ability to provide compassion to both self and others. With this in mind, the aim of this paper is t...

Background: Equipping student midwives with confidence to deliver bereavement care to childbearing women is a challenge for midwifery lecturers. Objective: To explore qualitative data provided by student midwives who evaluated the workbook Bereavement care for childbearing women and their families (Hollins Martin & Forrest, 2013) to explore thei...

Background: Prolonged deficiency in self-care strategies puts counsellors and psychotherapists at risk of burnout and compassion fatigue. Aim: To measure associations between self-compassion, compassion fatigue, wellbeing and burnout in student counsellors and student cognitive behavioural psychotherapists. Method: A quantitative survey using four...

Background: ‘Birth satisfaction’ is important since experience of labour can influence women’s post-natal adjustment. Objective: To explore: (1) childbearing women’s experiences of ‘birth satisfaction’ and (2) identify contexts in which it is more appropriate to use the 30-item Birth Satisfaction Scale (BSS) or the 10-item BSS-Revised (BSS-R). Stud...

Background: compassion fatigue and burnout can impact on the performance of midwives, with this quantitative paper exploring the relationship between self-compassion, burnout, compassion fatigue, self-judgement, self-kindness, compassion for others, professional quality of life and well-being of student midwives. Method: a quantitative survey me...

A small percentage of women present with diagnosed PTSD post childbirth; however, though this an area of increasing research and clinical interest generally, little is known about PTSD in relation to perinatal bereavement. Health professionals must however be aware of the mechanisms and models of loss following perinatal bereavement in order to ide...

Background: ‘Birth Satisfaction’ is a term that encompasses a woman’s evaluation of her birth experience. The term includes factors such as her appraisal of the quality of care she received, a personal assessment of how she coped, and her reconstructions of what happened on that particular day. Her accounts may be accurate or skewed, yet correspond...

Objective: The aims of this study were to continue the scale development process of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) by refining the scale to make it culturally relevant for US participants, examining the factor structure of the BSS-R, and describing the level of birth satisfaction in a sample of US mothers. Background: The Birth Satisf...

Psychometrics is a term within the statistical literature that encompasses the development and evaluation of psychological tests and measures, an area of increasing importance within applied psychology specifically and behavioral sciences. Confusion continues to exist regarding the fundamental tenets of psychometric evaluation and application of th...

Content & Focus: This narrative review summarises findings of research that has shown use of CompassionFocused Therapy (CFT) to improve psychological outcomes in clinical populations. This article reviews the research studies that have utilised CFT to treat clients experiencing a variety of mental health issues. The paper begins offering an overvie...

Content and Focus: This narrative review summarises findings of research that has shown use of Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) to improve psychological outcomes in clinical populations. This article reviews the research studies that have utilised CFT to treat clients experiencing a variety of mental health issues. The paper begins offering an over...

Introduction There is limited understanding of the type and extent of maternal postures that midwives should encourage or support during labor. The aims of this study were to identify a set of postures and movements commonly seen during labor, to develop an activity monitoring system for use during labor, and to validate this system design. Method...

Background: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) is the procedure of removing healthy external genitalia from girls/women for socio-cultural reasons. There is much scientific literature on the adverse physical health complications that can result from having FGM/C, but little is known about its psychological impact and treatment. Objective: To...

Therapeutic effects of music are well recognised within the literature, with benefits for a variety of health problems documented. This narrative review summarises benefits in terms of reducing stress, anxiety, labour pain and depression in childbearing women. For neonates, music has been shown to reduce number of days to discharge, reduce pain res...

Objective The aim is to explore the psychosocial needs of women who are pregnant after assisted conception, specifically In Vitro Fertilisation and whether their needs are being addressed within the current maternity care service. Design Critical review of the literature using a narrative approach. Findings and key conclusions 15 papers were iden...

Accessible summary: Alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) causes a broad range of both neurological and neurocognitive impairment. Mental health nurses are required to provide programmes designed to facilitate individuals with chronic alcohol dependency to radically change their drinking behaviour, invariably with an abstinence focus. No evidence th...