Reproductive health
Sexuality, pregnancy and childbirth are important areas for women’s health, and key areas for our research. The breakthrough for reproductive health came at the United Nations Population and Development Conference in Cairo in 1994, where it was defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters related to the reproductive system”. The concept includes the right to a satisfactory and safe sexual life, to safe methods of birth control, to decide if and when to have children, to safe health services during pregnancy and childbirth and if abortion is chosen.
Sexual health
Reproductive health also includes sexual health, which is often defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being related to sexuality”. Rights related to sexual health include the right to sexual education, to bodily integrity, to avoid coercion, discrimination and violence related to sexuality and sexual relations, to freely choose a partner regardless of sexual orientation and to choose whether or not to be sexually active.
Current research
Enid Leren Myhre: The PreCare Study. Pre-admission early labour care: An electronic educational intervention to improve early labour care and women’s pre-admission early labour experience: A mixed-method study
The overall aim of this PhD project is to improve early labour care and women’s pre-admission early labour experiences by developing and testing the effect of an electronic educational intervention.
Bente Dahl and Dorte Hvidtjørn: Lesbian couples who lose a child during the perinatal period: experiences with health professionals. This study is a collaborative project between researchers at Aarhus University Hospital/University of Southern Denmark and USN, where the aim is to explore how lesbian couples who have lost a child experience the encounter with clinicians in maternity care.