Birth Settings in America : Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice.

This important collaborative report is authored by 14 scholars and practitioners from a broad array of disciplines, sounding the alarm with respect to (and documenting existing inequities in) available birth setting choices, disparities in outcomes, the situation in underserved rural and urban areas, and related transportation and insurance coordination problems, all as currently found in the US. The report is organized into seven chapters covering maternal and newborn care, clinical risks in pregnancy and childbirth, systemic influences, and outcomes. Extensive, detailed footnotes and references, maps, charts, graphs, tables, figures, and highlighted text boxes contain further information and facts about key terms, changes in settings, typical home birth supplies, coverage for and influence of doulas (birthing coaches), preferences, performance measures, pilot and model programs, and more. The committee responsible for authoring this report supports the critical need for diversity in maternity care and greater midwifery integration, which has been successful in the UK, Netherlands, and Australia. A possible distraction is the constant use of acronyms throughout; providing a separate glossary might have increased the appeal of this report for a wider audience. Senior and graduate-level students and clinicians are the likely audience, but the book would be useful as a reference for undergraduates as well. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Ellen R. Paterson, emeritus, SUNY College at Cortland