Stronger Voices, Safer Births: Combining Emerging Technologies to Amplify Local Women’s Stories & Address Maternal Inequalities.
Gemma Howlett (UoC), Sarah Lowe (NCIC), and Amanda Kennet (NCIC)
65% of NHS maternity service are CQC rated as unsafe currently, with a fragile workforce and widespread maternal inequality being observed UK wide. Repeated national reports have identified that on-the-job training is essential to improving the current picture. However, delivery of this education is difficult and often not delivered in an effective pedagogical way to ensure deep reflective learning and changes in behaviour and practice.
This study aims to test a new approach to educating midwives working in clinical practice, using an innovative mobile App based training programme. This “bitesize” approach to training makes education delivery more accessible and offers the ability to participate in training whilst in clinical practice, requiring short abstraction periods from duty, rather than the whole day approach currently used. The study draws on the lived experiences of local women to NHS midwives and midwifery students in Cumbria. It is the “local” “personal” approach that looks to develop a connection to the education and experiences to initiate behaviour change. The study aims to test the effectiveness and feasibility of this educational approach. Aiming to assess with the users the impact that it has had on their practice and understanding of the core issues that will be explored.