We have many postgraduate students working in the Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research from a range of disciplines including midwifery, health visiting, nursing, psychology, and education. Information about doing a research degree at in the School of Health Sciences can be found here.
Examples of doctoral research
Shawn Walker is a practicing midwife examining competency and expertise in upright breech birth. Shawn has provided bespoke training nationally and internationally about skills to support vaginal breech births.
Suzanne Lee is researching risk perception in high risk pregnancy. She is using qualitative and quantitative methods to examine how pregnant women, midwives and obstetricians perceive risk in pregnancy.
Miriam Ashford is developing and evaluating a web-based intervention for women with postpartum anxiety. She is also researching the views of women with postpartum anxiety and health care professionals on web-based mental health interventions.
Rebecca Webb is developing and testing a model of maternal sensitivity to infant emotions and the impact of postnatal mental illness on this. Her work focuses on postnatal posttraumatic stress disorder and depression.
Giordana da Motta is looking at improving access to postpartum care for socially disadvantaged communities and testing the efficacy of a group-based model of postnatal care in socially disadvantaged communities.
Susan Bradley is examining the provision of respectful obstetric care in the context of the constraints facing health workers in sub-Saharan Africa. Her research looks at Malawian midwives’ perceptions of the practice and challenges of delivering respectful obstetric care.
Ryc Aquino is examining collaborative practice between midwives and health visitors in the context of maternal and child health service provision. Her work will develop ways in which communication and integration between these professions can be strengthened.
Claudia Oblasser is a practicing midwife interested in the use of vaginal balls for pelvic floor training after childbirth and is conducting a pilot trial to evaluate this.
Pelin Dikmen is conducting a national study in Turkey of the prevelance of depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder during pregnancy and after birth; and the effect of social support on women’s mental health at this time.
Donna Moore is examining how the internet is used by women after birth – particularly in relation to help for postnatal mental illness. Her work will establish how the internet can be used as an adjunct to medical treatment for postnatal mental illness.
Amy Delicate is looking at the impact of traumatic birth on couples and what support they need to reduce any negative impact.
