Maternal and Infant Health
We share a common goal to contribute evidence and implementation know-how so every woman and baby has access to high quality maternal and infant care.
Focus of our research
We generate and translate evidence to advance the provision of high-quality maternity care to every woman and baby. We are focused on getting it right for the most vulnerable in our community using a social model of health to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do.
We are:
- advancing understanding of the impact of midwifery continuity of care for women and babies.
- exploring strategies to enable universal access to midwifery continuity of care at a local level.
- hearing the voices of midwives to support a sustainable maternity workforce.
- working with community-level agencies and other stakeholders to authentically co-create strategies and resources to implement woman-centred care in their own communities and practice settings.
We have a growing group of PhD students and are keen to enable an environment that nurtures excellent research and researchers.
Project list
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Improving maternity care for socially disadvantaged and vulnerable women.
This project explores how to sustainably redesign maternity service delivery to reduce inequality in outcomes and experiences for women and their babies.
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Health literacy: The impacts and implications of de-sexed language in relation to reproductive health communications for service users in the UK.
This project determines how the change to de-sexed language in reproductive health information impacts service user comprehension, affects assessment of personal health risk, and influences trust and engagement with healthcare.
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Appropriate use of caesarean section.
This project aims to extend our understanding of the issues related to the use of caesarean section in England and includes consideration of effective strategies to align use with the evidence and women’s choices.
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Contemporary social activism in the maternity sector: strengthening inclusive and effective partnerships to enable midwifery continuity of carer.
This community-led initiative explores how, working in partnership with researchers and others, universal access to midwifery continuity of carer can be secured.
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Midwifery workforce wellbeing.
The primary aim of this project is to identify strategies that empower midwives and enable them to provide optimum care for women and babies in a sustainable way.
Cluster team
Jenny is Professor of Midwifery in a joint appointment with UHCW NHS Trust. She leads a programme of research tackling the pillars to build evidence-based, woman-centred maternity care with a focus on inequality. She has a strong background in maternity research, midwifery education, clinical practice, professional leadership, and innovation. She is Director of the Transforming Maternity Care Collaborative. New publications include a systematic review of health engagement tools for use with vulnerable pregnant women.
Dr Adanikin is a physician, with specialist certification in obstetrics and gynaecology from the West African College of Surgeons (WACS) and the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN), and previously worked as a hospital consultant. He holds a Master in Public Health, and a PhD from the University of Southampton, UK. He is a maternal and perinatal health epidemiologist, and possesses extensive experience working in the field of women’s health in developed and developing countries.