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We are curious about all things related to pregnancy and childbirth. We conduct research to improve maternal care to make sure everyone receives the best care during pregnancy and childbirth.

For instance, what experiences do (vulnerable) women have and how can we make those experiences better? How can we prevent birth trauma and how do midwives experience their work? We research this so we can help create changes in policy, and improve the teaching of midwifery-students.

Our main fields of interest are:

  • Evaluation and implementation of interventions;
  • Maternal and child health outcomes;
  • Organisation of care;
  • Sustainability of midwives;
  • Social midwifery;
  • Evaluation of Patient Reported Experience Measures.
Relevance

How our research benefits to society

  • How we translate our findings into care
    PREMS (Patient reported Experience Measures) are translated and adapted to the Dutch healthcare setting. Afterwards, the psychometric properties of these PREMS were evaluated (i.e. feasibility, acceptability, reliability, validity).  Maternal health care professionals can use these PREMs to evaluate care given or discuss experiences with women. So far, we have psychometrically evaluated the MADM (Mother on Decision-Making scale), the MORi (Mothers on Respect –index) and the CEQ2.0 (Childbirth experiences Questionnaire). Contact us if you would like to use the Dutch versions.
  • How we translate our findings into teaching courses
    We teach at the Midwifery Academy Groningen and use our research findings to help students understand the perspectives of pregnant women. We also encourage students to participate in the research we undertake, so they can learn about midwifery research.
  • We involve stakeholders and learn from each other by doing Participatory- ACTION-research
    For example, we ask experts by experiences and professionals to help us design and perform research. The collaboration with experts ensures that the research we conduct is designed thoughtfully and specifically for the intended target audience, meaning that results are of more benefit to women who experience pregnancy and/or birth.
  • We collaborate internationally in research
    Our collaboration in research projects on an international scale allows us to work with a diverse range of research and maternity care experts from around the world. The sharing of differing experiences within research and maternal care provides us with the opportunity to learn from these differences in order to improve care. Examples of our international research collaboration include the BEST study and the EUCAN-CONNECT project.

External members

Contact

University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG)
Department of Primary and Long-term Care
Midwifery Science Northern-Netherlands
Internal postcode FA21
P.O. Box 196
9700 AD  Groningen

Visiting address
UMCG
Department of Primary and Long-term Care
Oostersingel | entrance 47 | building 50 | 2nd floor
Groningen
The Netherlands