Models of maternity care for women living socially complex lives
Research type
Research Study
Full title
PROJECT 2O: Models of maternity care for women with low socioeconomic status, living socially complex lives: What works, for whom, and in what circumstances?
IRAS ID
235425
Contact name
Hannah Rayment-Jones
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
CRD42017076428, PROSPERO review protocol
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 28 days
Research summary
To explore how women with low socioeconomic status, living socially complex lives, experience, access and engage with maternity services, and what impact this has on their clinical outcomes. This will provide an understanding of how maternity care can be organised to improve childbirth outcomes and experiences for this vulnerable population of women and infants. Based on the findings of the research, a model of maternity care for women living socially complex lives will be developed and tested in future research.
How the research will be carried out over three years:
Prior to the study commencing, two rapid realist reviews will gather information from existing literature, experts in health inequalities, service users and key stakeholders for models of maternity care for women with social risk factors, on what is believed to improve women’s outcomes and experiences and why this is thought to be. Programme theories will be developed to test in a realist evaluation of how and why particular models of care are supposed to work.
Realist Evaluation:
Using the findings of the review, an evaluation of two different models providing maternity care to women with complex social risk factors will be carried out. This will involve following women through their pregnancy journey, speaking to them and their families about how they are experiencing their care. The evaluation will include an analysis of the care being provided, including in-depth discussion with care providers to explore how the model of care is organised, resource analysis, and quantitative measures of women's and infants' childbirth outcomes and experiences of respectful maternity care.This research will conclude by developing a model of maternity care aimed at reducing inequalities in clinical outcomes and experiences for women with low socioeconomic status, living socially complex lives. This model will be formally tested through a randomised trial within 5 years.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/0701
Date of REC Opinion
27 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion