SWIRL-Q: Attitudes to stillbirth research in low risk women v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
SWIRL-Q: - Stillbirth: When is risk low? A qualitative study to explore women’s attitudes towards and experiences of participating in stillbirth research in low-risk pregnancies.
IRAS ID
327733
Contact name
Kate Walker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
In order to address the global problem of stillbirth, a research collaboration between 15 universities called 'In Utero' has been created, to understand more about how babies develop during pregnancy and predict when stillbirth might occur. Our project is ‘SWIRL: Stillbirth - When is risk low?’ and women will be invited to take part if they are receiving antenatal care at Nottingham University Hospitals. During the development of the information to give to women considering joining the SWIRL study, many staff felt uneasy about how we describe a study focused on reducing stillbirth to families during pregnancy without creating undue anxiety. We found research regarding participant experience of stillbirth studies was limited, in particular, for families who had not experienced the loss of a baby the literature was sparse on their experiences. We wish to explore what factors encourage/discourage women to take part, and whether their involvement does, as believed, increase their anxiety during pregnancy. We hope by addressing these questions we can encourage and reassure more women and health professionals to take part in stillbirth research. The study will be conducted through an online questionnaire and women who wish to contribute further will be invited to a video interview lasting 30-45 minutes to explore their views in more depth. The study will recruit women from one of three existing studies in the 'In Utero' research collaboration, namely, SWIRL at the University of Nottingham, as well as a study at the University and Manchester. Women will be eligible to take part if they have not previously suffered a second trimester miscarriage or stillbirth. The study will last from recruitment until their interview is complete and will take place virtually from their own home. The study is funded by Wellcome Leap, who are funding the In Utero programme of work.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EM/0086
Date of REC Opinion
28 May 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion