The Caesarean section rate in urban Vietnam is 43% in 2014, which is more than twice the recommended rate (10%–15%) by the World Health Organization. This qualitative study aims to identify the perceptions of pregnant mothers and health care professionals on the medical and social factors related to the increased Caesarean section rate in Vietnam. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted among pregnant mothers and healthcare professionals at two public hospitals in Nha Trang city. A content analysis was adopted in order to identify social and medical factors. As a result, 29 pregnant women and 19 health care professionals were invited to participate in the qualitative interviews. Private interviews were conducted with 10 women who wished to have a Caesarean section, and the others participated in focus group interviews. The main themes of the social factors were ‘request for Caesarean section,’ ‘mental strain of obstetricians,’ and ‘decision-making process.’ To conclude, this qualitative study suggests that there were unnecessary caesarean sections without a clear medical indication, which were requested by women and family members. Psychological fear occurred among women and family, and doctors were the main determinants for driving the requests for Caesarean section, which implies that education and emotional encouragement is necessary by midwives. In addition, a multi-faced approach including a mandatory reporting system in clinical fields and involving family members in antenatal education is important.

Background: Despite its clinical and public policy-making importance, neonatal abuse has been only minimally studied.Purpose: To identify predictors of mothers’ emotional abuse towards their infants at 1 month after childbirth.Methods: We studied a cohort of 252 women at three time points: late pregnancy and 5 days and 1 month after childbirth. At each time point, the women were administered a set of questionnaires about their depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale), bonding towards the foetus or neonate (Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale and Postnatal Bonding Questionnaire, respectively), and, at 1 month after childbirth, emotional abuse (Conflict Tactic Scale).Results: Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that neonatal emotional abuse was predicted by bonding difficulties at 5 days after childbirth but not by depression at that time point.Conclusion: Assessment for maternal bonding problems in the early post-natal period should be routinely performed by perinatal health professionals.

Background: The severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) correlates with pregnancy complications. This study aimed to confirm the measurement and structural invariance of the 24 h Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis and Nausea (PUQE-24) regarding parity and observation time among pregnant women during the first trimester. Methods: Questionnaires including the PUQE-24 and the Health-Related Quality of Life for Nausea and Vomiting during Pregnancy (NVP-QOL) questionnaire were distributed to pregnant women from 10 to 13 weeks of gestation who were attending antenatal clinics. There were 382 respondents, and of these, 129 responded to the PUQE-24 again one week later. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis of this single factor model showed a good fit with the data: CFI = 1.000. The PUQE-24 factor and NVP-QOL factor were strongly correlated (r = 82). Configural, measurement, and structural invariance of the factor structure of the PUQE items were confirmed between primiparas and multiparas as well as at the test and retest observation occasions. Conclusion: The findings suggested that using the PUQE-24 among pregnant women in the first trimester was robust in its factor structure. The PUQE-24 may be a promising tool as an easy and robust measure of the severity of nausea and vomiting among pregnant women.