title: Cambodian migrant women's postpartum experiences in Victoria, Australia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to explore the postpartum experiences of Cambodian born migrant women who gave birth for the first time in Victoria, Australia between 2000 and 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  an ethnographic study with 35 women using semi-structured and unstructured interviews and participant observation; this paper draws on interviews with 20 women who fit the criteria of first time mothers who gave birth in an Australian public hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  the City of Greater Dandenong, Victoria Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  twenty Cambodian born migrant women aged 23-30 years who gave birth for the first time in a public hospital in Victoria, Australia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  after one or two home visits by midwives in the first 10 day postpartum women did not see a health professional until 4-6 weeks postpartum when they presented to the MCH centre. Women were home alone, experienced loneliness and anxiety and struggled with breast feeding and infant care while they attempted to follow traditional Khmer postpartum practices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  results of this study indicate that Cambodian migrant women who are first time mothers in a new country with no female kin support in the postpartum period experience significant emotional stress, loneliness and social isolation and are at risk of developing postnatal depression. These women would benefit from the introduction of a midwife-led model of care, from antenatal through to postpartum, where midwives provide high-intensity home visits, supported by interpreters, and when required refer women to professionals and community services such as Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies (Victoria Department of Health, 2011) for up to 6 weeks postpartum.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Social Development, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hoban
authors.forename: Pranee
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liamputtong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology; D002160:Cambodia / Q000208:ethnology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology; D008429:Maternal Welfare / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D008880:Midwifery / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D057240:Patient Preference; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires