Trauma-informed maternity care for women and birthing people who have experienced child sexual abuse

During this talk we will discuss the work we have done to co-produce an e-resource that supports maternity care professionals and students in providing trauma-informed care to women and birthing people who have experienced child sexual abuse. We will share the work we intend to do to test the feasibility of implementing the resource in the NHS.

This webinar is part of the Midwifery and Maternal Health Research Group series.

Speakers

Dr Elsa Montgomery, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care

Elsa qualified as a midwife 35 years ago. She is a now Senior Lecturer in Midwifery in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing Midwifery and Palliative Care at King’s College London. She was Head of the Department of Midwifery for most of her first five years at King’s. Her main area of research is the maternity care experiences of those who were sexually abused in childhood. Her recent work has involved the co-production of an e-resource to support healthcare professionals and students in providing trauma-informed care for women and birthing people who have experienced child sexual abuse.

Dr Kathryn Gutteridge, Independent Consultant Midwife and former President of the Royal College of Midwives

Kathryn has now retired from clinical practice after more than 43 years working in the NHS as a nurse and midwife. More than 20 years ago she undertook a MSc in Psychotherapy and qualified as a psychotherapist working with women and trauma both in her NHS role but also in private practice. She published her own personal story where she discussed her experiences of surviving child sexual abuse in relation to childbearing. This generated a wide response from maternity workers and following many disclosures from midwives and doctors she founded SANCTUM Midwives; a forum that supports, offers guidance and education around this subject. She has been awarded 2 honorary doctorates in respect of her work and she is pleased to be involved with organisations that value trauma informed care.

About Midwifery and Maternity Health Research Group

The Midwifery & Maternal Health Research Group is developing a programme of high-quality research to foster improvements to the delivery, outcomes and experiences of maternity care services. Our research is underpinned by the Lancet’s Midwifery framework for quality maternal and newborn care (QMNC). The QMNC is based on a definition of midwifery which encompasses skills, attitudes and behaviours, rather than specific professional roles. Therefore, while rooted in midwifery practice, our work goes beyond professional boundaries to centre childbearing women, people and their families.

Staff work within the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, in close collaboration with the Life Course Sciences Women & Children’s Health Department. We are also forging research networks and collaborations with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and Philosophy & Medicine. Additionally, the team bring their existing wider networks, service-user and clinician partnerships and collaborations that will develop and enhance the research profile.

We bring together our diverse but interrelated fields of interest. These have previously included modifiable risk factors for stillbirth, maternity care experiences for those who have experienced childhood sexual abuse and midwifery practices in facilitating complex physiological birth. Together, our work will continue to consider the outcomes and experiences of those receiving care, and those delivering care to address some of the key issues facing maternity services today. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/midwifery-maternal-health