Trauma Informed Care in the Perinatal Period

The EditorsJulia Seng, Professor of Nursing, Obstetrics and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan, USA and Julie Taylor, NSPCC Professor of Child Protection, School of Health and Population Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.The ContributorsCatherine Acton is a clinical psychologist working in a perinatal emotional health team at a large public maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Kristen R. Choi is a nurse and PhD student at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, USA. Chris Cuthbert is the Head of Strategy and Development for Children Under One at the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Jane Fisher is Jean Hailes Professor of Women’s Health, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, Australia. Heather Rowe is Senior Research Fellow in the Jean Hailes Research Unit School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, Australia. Mickey Sperlich is an experienced midwife and Assistant Professor of Social Work at the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA.

• The Contributors. Glossary of Abbreviations. 1: Why trauma informed care in the perinatal period? (Seng); 2: What is trauma informed care and why is it important? (Cuthbert and Seng); 3: What theories explain intergenerational patterns? (Seng and Taylor); 4: How does focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder shift perinatal mental health paradigms? (Sperlich); 5: How does traumatic stress affect pregnancy and birth? (Seng); 6: The postnatal period – opportunities for creating change (Rowe, Seng, Acton and Fisher); 7: What does trauma informed perinatal care look like? (Sperlich and Seng); 8: Where are we on the journey towards trauma-specific interventions and treatments for the perinatal period? (Cuthbert); 9: What are the next steps for trauma informed care in education and research? (Choi and Taylor). References. Index.

'The authors and editors of Trauma Informed Care in the Perinatal Period argue that psychosocial care is just as critical for mothers, infants, and society at large as is medical care, and point out that it has been agonizingly slow to catch up to the medical model. This is a research-laden book that takes a systems approach to both examining the roots of familial and societal violence, and exploring how to best deal with these complex issues as a collaborative front…This is a book for clinicians and researchers. Each chapter builds on the previous one, and research charts are included, allowing readers to easily find original articles and information. It is a worthwhile read that deftly probes into the reasons trauma-informed care should be included in the perinatal period, and possible ways to make this happen systemically.'APPPAH Birth Psychology