Essential Midwifery Practice - Public Health

Essential Midwifery Practice: Public Health highlights important developments in public health over recent years and relates the implications for midwifery practice in a clear and easily understood manner. This practical text will appeal to clinical midwives who may be unsure about the relevance of the public health agenda to their every day practice. It highlights how public health underpins every midwife’s practice by using examples and case histories. It addresses a wide range of public health issues pertinent to every midwife, including: smoking in pregnancy, breastfeeding, sexual health, substance misuse, domestic abuse, perinatal mental health and vulnerable groups, poverty and social exclusion.

Grace Edwards is Consultant Midwife in Public Health at Liverpool Women’s Hospital and Principal Midwifery Lecturer at University of Central Lancashire.



Sheena Byrom is a Consultant Midwife in Public Health at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

Chapter 1: The Midwifery Public Health Agenda – Setting the Scene.
Chapter 2: Health and Inequality- What can midwives do?.
Chapter 3: Smoking in Pregnancy- A growing Public Health Problem.
Chapter 4: Teenage Pregnancy- Everyone’s Business.
Chapter 5: Sexual Health- A Potential Time Bomb.
Chapter 6: Substance Abuse- What is the Problem?.
Chapter 7: Domestic Abuse in Pregnancy- A Public Health Issue.
Chapter 8: Maternal Mental Health- Working in Partnership.
Chapter 9: Supporting Breastfeeding- Midwives Facilitating A Community Model.
Chapter 10: Normal birth and Birth Centre Care- A Public Health Catalyst for Maternal and Societal Well-being