Understanding victims of honour-based violence.

Health practitioners, including public health nurses, health visitors and school nurses, are optimally placed to identify victims of abuse, including honour-based violence (HBV). Health appointments may be the only chance that a victim has to be alone with someone they can trust and to whom they feel able to disclose abuse. However, for this disclosure to occur the practitioner must be knowledgeable about HBV and the complexities involved. This article will examine the concept of HBV as described in the literature, how HBV differs from domestic violence, and the role of community practitioners in recognising and assessing the needs of victims.

Do low-income women attain their pre-pregnant weight by the 6th week of postpartum?

OBJECTIVES: To assess the proportion of women attaining pre-pregnant weight, and to ascertain the predictors of amount of retained weight at 6 weeks postpartum, in a tri-ethnic sample of low-income women. DESIGN: Short-term longitudinal design from post-delivery to 6 weeks postpartum. PARTICIPANTS: 419 African-American, Hispanic, and White women receiving perinatal care funded by Medicaid. MAIN OUTCOME VARIABLES: Proportion of women attaining pre-pregnant weight at 6 weeks postpartum; the amount of weight retained at 6 weeks postpartum. RESULTS: Fifteen percent of women attained their pre-pregnant weight at 6 weeks postpartum. In multiple regression analysis, maternal weight gain during pregnancy was the predominant predictor (B=.88, SE=.02, P=.000). Hispanic ethnicity (B=.69, SE=.33, P=.039) and the interaction between maternal weight gain and gestational length (B=-.04, SE=.02, P=.032) made small, independent contributions to amount of retained weight at 6 weeks postpartum. The interaction of ethnicity and maternal age predicted 1.3% of the variance in retained weight, but this was not significant. Health practices were not associated significantly with the amount of weight retained at 6 weeks postpartum. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of women did not return to their pre-pregnant weight by 6 weeks postpartum. The amount of retained weight after delivery is largely influenced by prenatal maternal weight gain.