Pregnancy and early parenthood mark a transformative period where women become caregivers and assume a new role with new responsibilities. While often portrayed positively, the transition to motherhood can be overwhelming. This is especially true for women living in adverse circumstances, presenting …

The ‘What Being the Parent of a New Baby is Like-Revised’ (WPL-R) is an instrument designed to measure adaptation to parenthood. In the process of pilot testing and validating the WPL-R in a postpartum Dutch population, we became aware of the potentially sensitive nature of the measure. Despite the ethics …

The unexpected death of a child is one of the most challenging losses as it fractures survivors’ sense of parenthood and other layers of identity. Given that not all the bereaved parents who have need for support respond well to available treatments and that many have little access to further intervention …

Background: Having children or being childless is associated with differences in women's psychological wellbeing during the reproductive age period. Methods: An individually matched case-control cohort study, measuring psychological wellbeing with the 5-item Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) was conducted. …

Background Psychological aspects of labor and birth have received little attention within maternity care service planning or clinical practice. The aim of this paper is to propose a model demonstrating how neurohormonal processes, in particular oxytocinergic mechanisms, not only control the physiological …

Background: Empowerment is expected to have a beneficial effect on a woman’s well-being during the perinatal period and her readiness to face the challenges of motherhood. In the literature on pregnancy and childbirth, empowerment is used widely in different contexts, with different connotations and …

This qualitative study explores perspectives towards motherhood of young Millennial women for preconception care purposes. The findings highlight the specific views that Millennial women have of motherhood: Mental mood boards portray both realistic and idealistic images of childbearing and motherhood. …

Objective To assess if and how primary care midwives adhere to the guideline by addressing transition to motherhood at the first prenatal booking visit and to what extent there was a difference in addressing transition to motherhood between nulliparous and multiparous women. Design Cross-sectional observational …

The ‘pay gap’ is a relatively new term. However, it is a problem that was developed around the beginning of the 20th century, the moment when women were allowed to hold a paid occupation in the Netherlands and Norway. The pay gap, often confused with unequal pay for the same work, is actually a complex …

This paper discusses a recent (and ongoing) Dutch television series called Penoza (Kro, 2010-). It portrays the Dutch criminal milieu from the perspective of the daughter of an Amsterdam mobster who shortly into the first season will be the widow of another criminal. Against her wishes she is drawn into …