As a postgraduate research student at the Collective for Midwifery Child and Family Health, you will be joining a vibrant and active research community that is committed to developing your skills via a comprehensive programme of research student training and supportive supervision.
Research students
Hypertension in pregnancy video transcript
I developed preeclampsia at 28 weeks gustation, it was an accidental finding in that I’m a registered nurse and I was at work on the day. I’d been feeling unwell and one of the registrars, one of the junior doctors I was working with actually said to me ‘what’s your blood pressure?’. I thought I don’t actually know. I checked it two weeks earlier at the GP and it had been fine. SO I went to the tea room and did my own blood pressure and thought ‘ok that’s quite high ‘and went straight to the labour delivery ward at ST George Hospital which is where I was working. They explained that I was obviously pregnant, this is my blood pressure, I don’t think this is normal, what would you suggest? And I didn’t end up going home again until I ended up having Edith my daughter.
There’s very little data in the literature around women’s health after they’ve had hypertension in pregnancy and as far as I know this is the only study being conducted looking at women’s health both physical and mental after they’ve had hypertension in their pregnancy. It’s really important information we’re gathering here and it’s going to fill a much needed gap in knowledge
There’s just so much that we don’t know and given that had my experience happened to my mother 30 something years ago, she quit probably would’ve died.
Hypertension in pregnancy affects about 10 percent of pregnant women preeclampsia affects about three to four per cent. Because we are providing these women with a much more continuous and collaborative approach to their care, that they are not as concerned and therefore are least likely top end up with longer term physiological issues as a result of their complicated pregnancy.
Lynne’s study has the potential to make a real difference to women around the world. For the first time we will have evidence about the mental health impacts for women after they’ve had this condition, blood pressure in pregnancy. So we will now be able to ensure that women are cared for during their pregnancy and get the best possible follow-up after they’ve had their baby. And that they can go into their next pregnancy in the healthiest possibly way.
Perhaps if this knowledge was known when I had my baby, my time may not have been as traumatic as it was for me, and for me to be part of a study that is going to have such an impact on women’s health makes me feel really special.
Some of our students
Nicola Morley
Do we lose them? Existing research suggests that new graduate midwives are well prepared, keen, and successful working in continuity models of midwifery care. However they are often prevented in doing so by personal and organisational barriers.
Using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, My Master of Midwifery research focuses on the experiences and career trajectory new graduates who aspire to work in continuity models of midwifery care, but who are prevented in doing so directly on graduation.
Retrospectively examining the experience of graduates from the last 5 years, combined with a cohort study of 2020 and 2021 graduates, my research hopes to find out how many achieve their goal and move into these models within 2-5 years of graduation.
Conversely, how many do we lose to fragmented models of care, or midwifery altogether? What barriers and facilitators do they experience when moving into continuity models of care, and how does this inform the recruitment process, support and management of recent midwifery practitioners?
Francieli Sufredini
Francieli is a Registered Psychologist and studied a Masters in Psychology (Research) at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil). Her PhD thesis is titled Social support, depression and anxiety in the perinatal period: a mixed methods study.
We know that the social support offered to women in the perinatal period can buffer against mental health concerns and promote wellbeing. However, some questions remain: What sources of support (e.g., partner, friends, family, neighbours, co-workers, midwives, nurses) are effective at reducing maternal levels of depression and anxiety in the perinatal period? How should these sources provide this support (what types of support/activities are relevant)?
Francieli’s mixed methods research aims to 1) investigate the association between structural and functional support and depression and anxiety in women in the perinatal period and 2) explore the experiences of women around support during the perinatal period. It seeks to benefit health care professionals such as midwives, obstetricians, nurses, and other maternity clinicians, providing evidence-based knowledge of how they can better support pregnant or postpartum women.
ORCID: 0000-0001-7865-9188.
Rachael Woodworth
My thesis is titled "Optimising freedom of movement and choice of positioning for women in labour who are using continuous fetal monitoring technologies: Midwives’ views and experiences.”
I aim to explore how midwives facilitate freedom of movement and choice of positioning during labour for women who are using continuous fetal monitoring. I will be exploring midwives acceptability of the different wired and wireless continuous fetal monitoring devices available in Australia. In turn I aim to identify midwives’ perspectives on the factors that facilitate and/or inhibit the use of wireless continuous fetal monitoring and contribute to the continued use of restrictive wired continuous fetal monitoring technologies within Australian facilities.
Glenys Janssen-Frank
I am passionate about supporting women seeking asylum. I hope my research will inform policy to improve maternity care experiences and outcomes for women seeking asylum in Australia. I am a full-time PhD candidate at UTS in Sydney in the Faculty of Health. My qualitative research is the experience of women seeking asylum, in the perinatal period in Australia. There is very few studies specifically on women seeking asylum in pregnancy and their outcomes are poorer than women who are pregnant in their high-income country of origin.
I studied a Masters in Public Health at Latrobe University, Melbourne and Graduate Diploma in Midwifery at Victoria University in Melbourne. I have worked as a midwife for over 20 years in Melbourne, and more recently specialised in working with vulnerable pregnant women in the community. This inspired me to commence my PhD studies.
Tebikew Yeneabat
My research is "Maternal Health Literacy Amongst Women Receiving Group Antenatal Care in Ethiopia: A mixed-method study."
In 2016 Shanghai declaration for health promotion, the WHO has identified health literacy as one of the focus areas to achieve sustainable development goals (9th Global Conference on Health Promotion Shanghai 2016: Health literacy and the SDGs). My study aims to assess the health literacy of pregnant women attending Group Antenatal Care in Ethiopia and its association with birth preparedness and complication readiness. In addition, the experience of pregnant women in group antenatal care will be explored in terms of how group antenatal care does improve their health literacy.
Dawn Reid
The title of Dawn’s thesis is "What are the experiences of Private Practicing Midwives who support women who elect to have a homebirth in Australia". Following the introduction of Medicare eligibility in 2010 there has been increase in pregnant women requesting the service of private practicing midwives (PPMs). In view of this increasing demand, it is important to gather research into the experiences of private practicing midwives. Exploring the topic in more depth will reveal the lived reality of private midwifery in Australia.
By exploring midwives’ experiences in providing homebirth services in Australia, the study has the potential to improve the experiences for everyone involved in the homebirth setting.
Zemenu Yohannes Kassa
Zemenu’s thesis is titled "The effect of COVID-19 on maternal and perinatal care at public health hospitals in the Sidama region, Southern Ethiopia: A mixed method study."
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a profound obstacle to the implementation of the recommend guidelines to improve maternal health service utilisation and has overwhelmed maternal health services. The health system, local and international stakeholders face challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to resource constraints in low-income countries such as Ethiopia, health systems are at risk of collapse. Therefore, it is essential to assess and explore the effect of COVID-19 on maternal and perinatal health in order to design interventions based on impacted maternal health indicators.
This study aims to assess the effect of COVID-19 on maternal and perinatal health care and outcomes during the outbreak at public hospitals in the Sidama region in southern Ethiopia.
Habtamu Kasaye
Habtamu Kasaye is a PhD candidate in the Collective for Midwifery, Child and Family Health. His current research is concerned with the mistreatment of women during maternity care from health facilities in western Ethiopia.
Ensuring high-quality, accessible, equitable, evidence-based, and respectful care before, during pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal period is valued as one of the primary pursuits of health facilities and healthcare providers. However, lack of respectful care or mistreatment of women is challenging quality of care across all cultures, which include disrespectful, abusive, neglectful, or undignified care. Combined with chronic infrastructure and health system barriers, such non-dignified health care are highly significant in low-and middle-income countries and it demands breaking the silence.
Aiming to detect how the mistreatment of women in health facilities affects the continuum of maternity care and exploring service receivers' and providers' perceptions, Habtamu is undertaking a mixed-method study from women's and healthcare providers' perspectives.
ORCID: 0000-0003-3759-2604
Georgia Carniato
Georgia Carniato is a Doctor of Philosophy student in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at UTS. Georgia obtained a Master of Laws specialising in Human Rights, from the University of New South Wales and her work focused on the gaps in access to maternal health care for Indigenous Australians.
Georgia’s PhD study at UTS focuses on autonomy and informed decision making in the perinatal experiences of younger mothers (aged 18-24). Autonomy and the ability to make informed choices are significant human rights in childbirth, however, the normalisation of medicalised interventions under risk-based medical care represents the lack of autonomy and choice that women have when they enter maternity services within Australia. Georgia’s project highlights a need for further research on experiences of autonomy within maternal health services in Australia, particularly for this vulnerable age group. It is a hope that this research may address ways of improving respectful maternity care.
ORCID: 0000-0002-9405-5947.
As well as being a full-time researcher, Georgia is a full-time mum to two children, Giulietta and Apollo.
Student meetings
Students at the Collective for Midwifery, Child and Family Health who are undertaking Honours, Masters and Doctoral research studies have fortnightly meetings where they discuss their research with peers.
The meetings are facilitated by the research members including leading professors of midwifery and public health.
The meetings are always well attended either in person or by video conferencing, demonstrating a thriving research student community.
