04/10/2023
We are looking for volunteers to take part in a study of local women of South Asian heritage who have given birth at Kingston Hospital or under the care of the Kingston Homebirth Team in the last three years.
We want to understand more about how women of South Asian heritage make decisions about where to have their baby.
For the purposes of this study, “South Asian” means those whose family originates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.
We are looking for women who had a straightforward, “low-risk” pregnancy who planned to give birth in the Delivery Suite (“Labour ward”), the Birth Centre (the midwife-led unit) or at home.
Volunteers will be invited to take part in a 30-40 minute interview (either face to face or online, depending on your preference). The questions will be focused on what information you received about place of birth and what influenced your choices about place of birth.
The information you provide will be anonymised and used as part of a wider study looking at whether a person’s ethnicity affects place of birth. The results of the study will help us to highlight whether there is a difference, and to decide how we can improve our services so that all women have better access to different birth settings and can make the choices that are best for them.
The study is being carried out by Frances Rivers, Consultant Midwife at Kingston. She is doing the study as part of her Master’s in Global Maternal Health at City, University of London.
If you are interested in taking place, please contact her at: frances.rivers@nhs.net
