Journal Page

Out of Sync: Antenatal Education and the Present-Day Maternity System. Eight takeaways for more effective birth preparation

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Hannah Northern Thakur Setting the scene: my NCT experience I took an NCT course four years ago ahead of my daught…   Read more…

Heart health in pregnancy study needs your help!

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 Rebecca Jarman wrote for the AIMS journal in 2024 about Peripartum Cardiomyopathy (PPCM), a rare but potentially life…   Read more…

Antenatal practitioners’ experiences and opinions on online antenatal education

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Terri Harman Introduction For my bachelor’s research , I explored antenatal practitioners’ experiences and opinion…   Read more…

What is good antenatal education?

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Naomi Glass What is true birth preparation? Can there be too much or too little birth preparation? And can anythin…   Read more…

Antenatal education: What is the point?

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Alex Smith Throughout history people have seen education as having different purposes. Or, to put it another way,…   Read more…

Uncomfortable learning: Bitter roots; sweet fruit. Why we need to understand cultural constructs, hegemony, phantasms and transhumanism.

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Alex Smith I was in a discussion with Danish midwife Jacqueline Vejlstrup recently and it really got me thinking.…   Read more…

What makes for good antenatal education in the current birth climate, and why?

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Janet Balaskas Many years ago, in the late 1970’s, I gave birth for the first time. A few weeks before the birth I…   Read more…

Why, as a neurodiverse antenatal teacher, I understand the needs of neurodiverse parents and the benefit of face-to-face education

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Rebecca Cumming As a neurodiverse antenatal teacher, I bring both professional knowledge and lived experience to m…   Read more…

A personal reflection on the Amos Review Update, December 2025

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Jo Dagustun, AIMS Volunteer What was asked for - a fresh pair of eyes A public ministerial briefing, if you will,…   Read more…

ANTENATAL EDUCATION: A pedagogy of the oppressed

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Mary Nolan My brief for this article outlined by AIMS Editor, Alex Smith (an innovative, radical and hugely skille…   Read more…

What do women learn about birth and where? Extending the concept of antenatal education to ‘the birthroom’

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 In this article, AIMS volunteer Jo Dagustun draws on her work as a geography student, to offer some thoughts on the c…   Read more…

Teaching consent: A conversation

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 With Rachael Bickley and Alex Smith I started my conversation with Rachael by asking her to introduce herself. Rachae…   Read more…

Editorial: What is there to learn? Different perspectives on preparing for birth

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Alex Smith Welcome to the March edition of the AIMS journal. This issue explores the question of antenatal educati…   Read more…

Antenatal Education in Imaginary Hindsight.

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 An Editorial foreword: As an antenatal educator I would often invite the expectant parents to imagine that their baby…   Read more…

What has the AIMS Campaigns Team been up to this quarter?

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By The AIMS Campaigns Team Published written outputs: 8th November: AIMS Response to the NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan C…   Read more…

Maternal Medicine Networks

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 By Natalie Whyte Maternal Medicine Networks were commissioned by NHS England in 2021 following MBRRACE reports showin…   Read more…

The Medication Dilemma in Pregnancy: Balancing Efficacy and Safety

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 By Dr Megha Singh, MuM-PreDiCT programme manager, and Dr Jingya Wang, epidemiologist, University of Birmingham Introd…   Read more…

Just Baby, Me and Multimorbidity: Where Did All the Care Go?

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 By Dr Etomby Namme I was born with Sickle Cell Anaemia . My parents didn’t know it at the time, but after a couple of…   Read more…

Am I on a different path to everyone else? Will I be a mummy?

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 By Mary Smith From a young age, my dream was to be a mother—at one point fantasising about having five kids! Growing…   Read more…

Conflicting advice for pregnant women with multiple long-term conditions

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 Researchers Siang Ing Lee and Ngawai Moss report on the qualitative study they conducted to inform a core outcome set…   Read more…

Women, Pregnancy and Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Cautions in the Age of Digital Maternity

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 By Christopher Yau, Nuffield Department for Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford on behalf of the MUM-…   Read more…

Personalising Women’s Care as a Midwife

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 “ Following the maternity review and the publication of Better Births in 2016 one of the key findings was that person…   Read more…

Maternity care co-ordination for women with two or more long-term health conditions (MLTC): The need for joined up care

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 By Zoe Vowles Background The MuM-PreDiCT study has found the number of women experiencing pregnancy with two or more…   Read more…

Communicating Risk in Pregnancy: Supporting Women with Multiple Long Term Health Conditions

Vol. 37, No. 4, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 4 By Sally Darby The experience of pregnancy and of navigating maternity services can feel daunting and isolating. This…   Read more…

Latest Content

Journal

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What has the AIMS Campaigns Team be…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By The AIMS Campaigns Team Published written outputs: 8th November: AIMS Response to the NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan Consultation 11th Nov…

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Antenatal Education in Imaginary Hi…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 An Editorial foreword: As an antenatal educator I would often invite the expectant parents to imagine that their baby had safely arrived…

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Editorial: What is there to learn?…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Alex Smith Welcome to the March edition of the AIMS journal. This issue explores the question of antenatal education. Antenatal educat…

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Events

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AIMS Workshop: Focusing on Inductio…

Join us for one of our series of interactive online AIMS workshops, " Focusing on Induction of Labour ". Nadia Higson (principal author of "The AIMS Guide to Induction of…

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AIMS Workshop: Wellbeing

AIMS is delighted to be hosting a Wellbeing workshop delivered by Ruth Weston , veteran birth activist, AIMS volunteer and author of 'Born Stroppy Make Change Happen'. Th…

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AIMS Workshop: Focusing on Rights i…

Join us for one of our series of interactive online AIMS workshops, " Focusing on Rights in Pregnancy and Birth ". Emma Ashworth (principal author of "The AIMS Guide to Y…

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Latest Campaigns

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Continuity of Carer - Speaking note…

London, Wednesday 4th March 2026 A key component of ensuring maternity service provision that is safe, personalised and equitable, is the provision of a robust and sustai…

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Rebirth Festival, Athens, April 202…

Background: AIMS is a member of ENCA - the European Network of Childbirth Associations 1 . Each year, one of the member associations hosts a two day gathering of birth ac…

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AIMS responds to Woman’s Hour Cover…

The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, led by Valerie Amos, published an interim report on February 26, 2026. This was covered on the BBC’s Woman’s Hour progr…

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