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Underreporting of stillbirths in Pakistan: perspectives of the parents, community and healthcare providers

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, July 2018
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (87th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (87th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
1 news outlet
blogs
1 blog
twitter
1 X user

Citations

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21 Dimensions

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97 Mendeley
Title
Underreporting of stillbirths in Pakistan: perspectives of the parents, community and healthcare providers
Published in
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, July 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12884-018-1924-9
Pubmed ID
Authors

Muhammad Zakria Zakar, Rubeena Zakar, Mudasir Mustafa, Aisha Jalil, Florian Fischer

Abstract

Pakistan has the highest rate of stillbirths globally. Not much attention has been given so far to exploring the sociocultural factors hindering the reportage of stillbirths and the causes of death. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the perspectives of parents, communities and healthcare providers regarding the sociocultural practices and health system-related factors contributing to stillbirths and their underreporting. This study used a qualitative approach including in-depth interviews and 14 focus group discussions to collect data from four districts of Pakistan. We conducted 285 in-depth interviews and 14 focus group discussions with health professionals - mainly active in the areas of maternal and child health - and parents who had experienced stillbirth. Constant comparative method and analytical induction method were performed to analyze the data. The results of this study show that stillbirth is frequently misclassified and, therefore, an underreported phenomenon in Pakistan. It is an outcome of sociocultural practices, such as the social meaning of stillbirth and their understanding about the conflict between cultural and medical anatomy. In addition to grief and psychological distress, it endangers the maternal identity and worth in society in contrast to the mothers of live-born children. The misclassification of stillbirth, especially by healthcare providers, is a significant impediment to designing preventive strategies for stillbirth. We recommend that the reporting system for stillbirth should be aligned with the WHO definition of stillbirth to avoid its underreporting. Reporting procedures at a more administrative level need to be made uniform and simplified.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 97 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 97 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 18 19%
Researcher 14 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 13 13%
Student > Bachelor 7 7%
Other 5 5%
Other 10 10%
Unknown 30 31%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 20 21%
Social Sciences 14 14%
Medicine and Dentistry 13 13%
Psychology 7 7%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance 2 2%
Other 7 7%
Unknown 34 35%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 17. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 December 2023.
All research outputs
#2,146,870
of 25,018,122 outputs
Outputs from BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
#558
of 4,663 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#42,918
of 332,521 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
#17
of 125 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,018,122 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 91st percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,663 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.2. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 332,521 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 125 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.