Academics receive ARC Linkage grant

Congratulations to colleagues Professor Hannah Dahlen, Professor Virginia Schmied, Professor Cathrine Fowler PIs Marie Dickinson, Jane Kookarkin (Tresillian), Robert Mills, Yvonne McCann (Karitane) on their recently announced ARC Linkage grant.

Titled Characteristics, trends, co-admissions and service needs of women admitted to residential parenting services in the year following birth in NSW.

This study will examine the characteristics, pregnancy and birth interventions of women who go on to use the residential parenting services (RPS) of Tresillian and Karitane in NSW (2000-2010) in the first year following birth, in order to help health services better meet the needs of women into the future.

Many mothers experience significant difficulties with early parenting, in particular with breastfeeding, settling an infant with severely, disrupted sleep patterns, and soothing an infant with dysregulated and persistent crying. Sleep and settling problems in the infant are reported to be severe by over 30% of women in Australian studies, often resulting in significant maternal exhaustion and are associated with poorer mental and physical health in women. It is important to ameliorate physical and mental health problems during pregnancy and after birth as they are known to have significant short and longer term impacts on the woman as well as on the health and development of her child. Emerging evidence suggests that interventions during birth can also have a significant impact on maternal physical and psychological wellbeing - including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and on infant development and behaviour. However, it is not clear if there is a relationship between health complications in pregnancy, mode of birth and obstetric interventions, physical health and recovery and an impact on parenting experience and capacity. Changing maternal demographics and significant increases in obstetric intervention over the past decade make answering these questions a priority.

The aim of this study is to examine the physical, psychological and demographic characteristics, trends, service needs and co-admissions to other health services of women admitted to RPS of Tresillian and Karitane in NSW from 2000-2010. Specifically this study will:

determine the relationship between clinical characteristics and demographics of women and infants admitted to RPS in NSW in the period 2000 to 2010; and whether these have changed over the past decade;

1. describe the pathways, including service utilisation and parenting experiences of women prior to admission;
2. examine the relationship between use of RPS and admission to other health services in the year following birth;
3. identify the skills set, training and support needs of RPS staff.

To achieve our goal we will conduct a sequential mixed methods study using data linkage (800,000 women who birthed in NSW during 2000 to 2010), analysis of 300 client records (both quantitative and qualitative data) of women admitted in 2013 to RPS in the first year following birth and focus group interviews with staff at Karitane and Tresillian RPS. New knowledge of those who do or do not use RPS services and the pathways taken to access RPS will be used to inform service design and delivery, including access and equity in the use of RPS.

ARC Linkage (LP 130100306)2013-2015