Maternity and Childbirth (OxMater)

About us

The OxMater group engages in research to optimise health and wellbeing during maternity, childbearing, and beyond and in activities to promote the implementation of the best available research into maternity care provision.The team also actively works to nurture future researchers.

The team collaborates with researchers internationally with partners from Australia, Ireland, Italy and New Zealand.

Part of

Related courses

Midwifery - Pre-Registration (MSc)
Professional Doctorate in Midwifery (DMid)
Midwifery (BSc (Hons))
Midwifery 2nd Registration (BSc (Hons))

Research impact

Research from the group, including multiple systematic reviews of the literature, has led to a greater understanding of how being immersed in water offers key benefits to women and their babies during childbirth.

Research from the group has also lead to the development of innovative Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses and change in clinical practice. An example being the development of the e-learning tool 'estiMATE' designed to teach midwives how much blood volume in a birthing pool is safe and when they should call for a medical intervention. The tool is being used internationally by midwives, nurses, and other healthcare professionals across eight countries—including the Republic of Ireland, Spain, Italy, Australia, England, Scotland, the United States, New Zealand, and Germany—to enhance their skills in estimating blood loss during waterbirths.

More about Research impact

Leadership

Dr Ethel Burns

Senior Lecturer in Midwifery

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Membership

Name	Role	Email
Dr Jane Carpenter	Programme Lead, Midwifery and Lead Midwife for Education	jane.carpenter@brookes.ac.uk
Mrs Sarah Fleming	Senior Lecturer	sfleming@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Louise Hunter	Associate Lecturer	lhunter@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Ginny Mounce	Senior Lecturer - Course Lead Professional Doctorate in Midwifery	gmounce@brookes.ac.uk

Name	Thesis Title	Supervisors	Completed
Claire Litchfield	Is the use of water immersion for women in labour or giving birth both safe and effective as a method for improving rates of normal birth for women who are obese?	Dr Jane Carpenter, Dr Louise Hunter, Professor Mary Malone	Active
Ms Rebecca Parker	The experience of midwives during intrapartum emergencies in community settings	Dr Ethel Burns, Dr Rachel Rowe, Professor Paul Carding	Active

Name	Role	Organisation
Dr Cindy Farley	Associate Professor	Georgetown University
Dr Claire Feeley	Lecturer	King's College London
Dr Priscilla Hall	Senior Instructor	Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University
Dr Reem Malouf	Neurologist, Specialist in Internal Medicine	National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Oxford
Dr Sue Pavord	Consultant Haematologist, Associate Senior Lecturer in Medicine	Oxford University Hospitals
Dr Charles Roehr	Clinical Director	National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Oxford
Dr Rachel Rowe	Associate Professor and Senior Health Services Researcher	National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Oxford
Professor Lesley Smith	Professor of Women’s Public Health	University of Hull
Dr Harriet Thorn-Cole	Midwife	Haute Ecole de Santé Vaud
Dr Jennifer Vanderlaan	Assistant Professor	University of Nevada

Projects

Project title and description	Investigator(s)	Funder(s)	Dates
Water immersion during labour and waterbirth: women with risk factors An increasing number of trusts in the UK and maternity care providers abroad are expanding birthing pool access to women who have risk factors such as a larger body, a previous CS or having an induction of labour. To understand more about what typically happens to this population, we are establishing an international, multi-professional collaboration to share data that are collected as part of routine intrapartum care provision. Clinical guidance - we also plan to create a clinical guideline for water immersion during labour and waterbirth.	Dr Ethel Burns, Dr Claire Feeley	Oxford Brookes University	From: June 2023
Fertility and Assisted Reproduction Collaborative work with Professor Helen Allan at Middlesex University around infertility, preconception and assisted reproduction. Currently developing a book for midwifery and nursing practice around transition to parenthood following IVF. Current joint PhD supervisor for a project on South Asian women's wellbeing after successful IVF.	Dr Ginny Mounce
Maternal obesity This research has a particular focus on the care that women with obesity receive during the perinatal period. Research to date on obesity in childbirth has been focused mainly on public health interventions, or on risks to mother and neonate. Our focus is on how these women experience their care throughout pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, including investigating ways to support normal birth and birth choices. A collaborative PhD studentship, co-supervised by Associate Professor Rachel Rowe from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit and undertaken by student Claire Litchfield, is investigating use of water immersion by women with raised BMI.	Dr Jane Carpenter

Project title and description	Investigator(s)	Funder(s)	Dates
estiMATE An e-tool developed and evaluated to improve the accuracy of visual blood loss estimations during waterbirth. The resource can be accessed on All4Maternity by maternity services, universities and interested others as a CPD resource for clinicians.	Dr Ethel Burns	Oxford Brookes University	From: January 2023 Until: November 2023
Management of Anaemia in Pregnancy Working with Dr Sue Pavord, author of the British Society for Haematology guidelines on the management of anaemia in pregnancy, we have scoped the practices of midwives in the UK in relation to anaemia (paper in review). Our findings will inform the development of a resource for midwives, to help improve care.	Dr Jane Carpenter
Midwives’ perspectives of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic Midwives’ perspectives of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on their professional roles and/or ways of working: a qualitative study (UREC LO20213). While immediate responses to UK maternity care during the current coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak have focused on avoidance of virus transmission, for example by social distancing measures, avoiding hospital settings and PPE, the purpose of this study is to investigate how midwives, in their professional jobs, have had to adapt the ways in which they give care and manage their relationships with their patients. We wish to ask midwives if they perceive any benefits to these new ways of working for maternity care in the future and how they consider Covid-19 will shape their practice (and the profession) of the future.	Dr Ginny Mounce
An exploration of the application and learning experiences of BAME midwifery students A mixed-methods study that will explore experiences of BAME applicants to midwifery programmes in the South East of England at different points along their journey to registration.	Dr Louise Hunter	HEE	From: March 2021 Until: December 2021
Global Majority midwifery students This developing research area explores the experiences of Global Majority students from University application to study midwifery through the interview process and onto the course. An ethnically diverse workforce has been identified as a key component of safe, compassionate maternity care, and yet midwifery remains a predominantly White profession across the Global North. Understanding the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic midwifery students is key to addressing this disparity. We undertook a mixed-methods study to explore the experiences of all midwifery applicants to University in south east England. Two papers have been published, and a third is in preparation.	Dr Jane Carpenter, Mrs Giada Giusmin, Dr Louise Hunter	HEE