MHS504 Case: REVISING SCHOLARLY

Structuring Scholarly Papers

James Goggans

Trident University

Instructor: Dr. Maria Luque

MHS504 Scholarly Writing in the Health Sciences

8 May 2022

Authors’ Thesis

The authors' thesis is that while some studies have found no differences between hospital and home birthing in terms of fetal deaths, neonatal births, and low Apgar scores, recent reports indicate adverse effects of neonatal outcomes associated with home birth. The thesis appears towards the end of the abstract; this is the study's argument sought to prove or disapprove. The researchers concluded that home birth is associated with positive experiences and outcomes if clear procedures and guidelines are followed.

Paragraph 3

The main point of the third paragraph is that home birth is attracting media, professional organizations, and research attention. The authors give an example of the Royal College of Midwives and Obstetricians and Gynecologists that issued a joint statement that supports home birth for women who are less vulnerable to complications associated with childbirth. The authors also use the example of a publication from the National Institute for Health and Care in the UK, which poses that birthing at home is safer and requires fewer interventions than birthing in the hospital.

Paragraph 5

The fifth paragraph emphasizes that the risks and benefits of home birth to mothers are equally important as the benefits and risks to the infants. In this paragraph, the authors say that most studies focus on infant outcomes, and little attention is given to issues such as morbidity and mortality of mothers. In this paragraph, the author emphasizes that there is a need to address these issues and maternal satisfaction issues to ascertain the overall effectiveness of home birth. The author mentions that this study reviews the risks and benefits of home birth to both the infant and the mother.

Paragraph 7

Paragraph 7 focuses on the search strategy used to develop relevant studies and publications for the review. The author says that all the sources were published in the last ten years in terms of currency. The search engines used were ProQuest, CINAHL, and PubMed. The search terms included out of hospital birth, homebirth, and home birth. The authors also mention that the search was limited to publications in English, and only scholarly journals were searched. After getting the sources, the author mentions that they were reviewed to ensure they were relevant to the topic and excluded all sources that did not contain relevant information.

Authors' Conclusion

The authors conclude that while there is inconclusive evidence related to the neonatal outcomes related to planned home birth, it is clear that there are minimal or no risks associated with home birth if there are effective guidelines and systems in place. Women who implement planned home birth are less likely to experience complications and unnecessary intervention. These women also have enhanced experience at home because they give birth in a home setting that they are familiar with and a more comfortable environment than the hospital. The authors add that home birth should be available to low-risk women and can be made more effective by having policies to support the integration of home birth into the maternal system.

Reference

Zielinski, R., Ackerson, K., & Low, L. K. (2015). Planned home birth: benefits, risks, and opportunities. International journal of women's health, 7, 361.