Help a Birth Researcher Learn More About Mothers and Birth

Asheya Hennessey, executive director of Mothers of Change, is working with Michael C. Klein of the Child and Family Research Institute on a project designed to learn more about why there were so many "I don't know" responses from mothers to questions related to cesareans, epidurals, episiotomies, doulas, and home birth in a recent study published by Klein and his colleagues. You can find out more about what's involved (and download a copy of Klein's study) by reading this post on the Mothers of Change blog.

Michael C. Klein and His Latest Birth Research

I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael C. Klein, MD, for a my pregnancy and birth column in today's Toronto Star.

If you're a birth research junkie, you already know who he is. You probably read his contributions over at Lamaze International's fabulous Sense and Sensibility blog on a regular basis.

If you're not quite so tuned into birth research, you may not be familiar with his name, but you may have been affected by his work. Let's put it this way: If you're a woman who has given birth at some point over the past twenty years, you probably owe Klein a thank you. It was his 1992 study that challenged the conventional wisdom about routine episiotomies and led to a sharp decrease in the episiotomy rate, as I explain in my column.

I also talk about Klein's latest birth research in the article, but, due to space constraints, the actual citations ended up being chopped. Here they are, in case you would like to read these studies. They are fascinating and warrant every bit as much attention as Klein's groundbreaking work on episiotomy:

• "Midwives’ Belief in Normal Birth: The Canadian Survey of Maternity Care Providers’ Attitudes Toward Labour and Birth" (Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice, Summer 2011);
• Birth Technology and Maternal Roles in Birth: Knowledge and Attitudes of Canadian Women Approaching Childbirth for the First Time (.pdf) (Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, June 2011);
• Attitudes of the New Generation of Canadian Obstetricians: How Do They Differ from Their Predecessors?  (Birth, May 2011);
• Family Physicians Who Provide Intrapartum Care and Those Who Do Not: Very Different Ways of Viewing Childbirth (Canadian Family Physician, April 2011).

Related:

A list of resources related to normal birth complied by Michael C. Klein and other members of an online discussion group he founded to promote the discussion of normal birth between childbirth professionals.