Perinatal care experience of black women and health professionals (1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the perspectives and experiences of black women in perinatal care and the health professionals caring for them in Leicester
IRAS ID
305413
Contact name
Ebunoluwa Makinde
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
De Montfort University
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 2 days
Research summary
Recent statistics shows that black women are five times more likely to die in pregnancy than other ethnic group ( MMBRACE, 2020). The reasons for this is not clear, but evidence linked this to the inequalities faced by these women when accessing health care. Inequalities faced by black women can also impact their mental and emotional health. Evidence highlights that perinatal mental health are significant predictors of women’s health status in perinatal period of and till the end of life (Redshaw et al, 2016). Even though the burden of perinatal mental health is observed to be significantly high in black population, it is less likely that it will be identified and treated during perinatal period, despite being a public health issue (Prady etal,2016).
The Care Quality commission (2015) suggested that exploring women experiences of maternity care is an effective way of accessing the quality of perinatal care being provided and changes that needs to be made in the delivery of care especially to black minority women who are at increased risk of having negative experience.
Given the above evidences, the study will explore perspectives and experience of perinatal care from black women, their health professionals and their support network. At the same time, the study will explore black women mental health and emotional well being during their perinatal journey
The proposed study is divided into three phases: Black women will fill the health assessment questionnaire in the first phase. The second phase of the study involves focus group discussion with black women, women support network and perinatal health professionals. The third phase of the study is a one to one interview with black women to explore indepth black women experiences of maternity care, their expectations of maternity care and to disucss new issues that have emerged from the focus group.REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/PR/0616
Date of REC Opinion
12 May 2022
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion