Faculty of Science and Health
You are invited to participate in a research study on rural women’s experiences of transferring to a larger maternity unit for ‘high risk’ pregnancy and childbirth care.
Download participant information sheet
The study is being conducted by Linda Jones, Sarah Elliot and Lynne Staff from the School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Services at the Charles Sturt University. Charles Sturt University is an Australian University, TEQSA Provider Identification: PRV12018. Charles Sturt University CRICOS Provider: 00005F.
Before you decide whether or not you wish to participate in this study, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take the time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish.
Associate Professor Linda Jones
School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Sciences
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga campus. Linjones@csu.edu.au
Sarah Elliott
This School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Sciences
Charles Sturt University, Bathurst campus. selliott@csu.edu.au
Lynne Staff
This School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Sciences
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga Campus, lynette.staff@utas.edu.au
This research aims to explore women’s experience of having to transfer their care to a larger maternity unit due to being deemed at risk through a semi structured interview. Currently there is only research that has examined reasons for transfer and not what the experience has been for the women . Ultimately the aim is to assess how care and support can be improved for these women and potential options of care for the future.
You have been invited to participate in this research as you live in a rural/remote area and were booked into a local maternity unit for childbearing care. Then you were deemed ‘at risk’ and have to transfer your antenatal and childbirth care from a small to a large maternity unit. This meant that you had to travel to this hospital for your pregnancy appointments and then return home.
Inclusion criteria: women originally booked into a small/rural maternity unit and being deemed at ‘high risk’ due to your age, high BMI, developed diabetes or hypertension, just to name a few. Having to then transfer this care to a larger maternity unit as an outpatient for pregnancy care and then admitted for birth. Birthed within the last two years.
Exclusion criteria: women who have to be admitted to a larger maternity unit due to pregnancy complications or experienced a stillbirth.
If you agree to participate, you will be asked to undertake a semi structured/casual conversation style interview either through zoom/teams or face-to-face at a date and time that suits. You can contact Linda Jones to organise this interview who will also be doing the interview. This interview will ask you what that experience of transferring your care was like for you. The interview will be approximately 40-60 minutes and be audio recorded.
There will be no direct benefit to you in participating in this research apart from sharing your experience of transferring your antenatal and childbirth care. We would like to hear what that experience was like for you and provide you with an opportunity to share this experience with the researcher.There are no foreseeable risks to you in participating in this research.
It is acknowledged, however, that there may be potential for distress to occur as distressing thoughts may arise as you share your experience during the interview. Participation in the research is completely voluntary, and if you believe that this may be an issue for you, you are under no obligation to participate. If you do choose to participate, you are still under no obligation to discuss any distressing experiences unless you wish to do so. The research questions are not designed or intended to provoke distress or discomfort, but the researchers acknowledge there is the potential for this to occur. At the conclusion of the interview, you will be provided with a debrief statement regarding support services, should distressing thoughts have arisen which affect you adversely. If participants show any signs of psychological distress during the interview, the interview may be suspended or terminated to prevent further distress. Participants may stop the interview at any time.
If you are experiencing distress here are some support services available for you to access:
National helpline (Monday to Saturday) 1300 726 306
1300 224 636 (24 hours, 7 days)
https://www.beyondblue.org.au
If urgent support is needed, phone the Mental Health Line (1800 011 511) for information on 24-hour counselling services in your area.
This research is being funded by the Rural Health Research Institute Faculty of Science and Health at Charles Sturt University.This funding body will have no input in the research results.
Women will receive a $50 gift voucher as an appreciation of their time. This will be either handed to the women if face-toface interview or electronically sent if virtual interview following the interview. Women will still revieve this voucher if they decide to withdraw from the research following the interview.
Participation in this research is entirely your choice. Whether or not you decide to participate, is your decision and will not disadvantage you. Only those who give their informed consent will be included in the project.
Your are free to withdraw from the study at any time up until two weeks after the interview. After two weeks the data will be analysed and aggregated, making it not possible to identify your data to be able to remove it.
All data collected during the interview will be deidentified, making use of psuedonyms and redacting any possible identifiable data. Data will be written up as aggregate data with potential quotes inserted with the pseudonym used.
The researcher will only use the information that you tell them for the research. The researcher will not say that the information came from you, and nobody will be able to tell that the information came from them. Your name will not be used.
Data will be stored on a password protected file on the researchers computer, located n site at Charles Sturt University for a period of 5 years and then destroyed. Only the researchers involved will have access to this data until this data is destroyed. No one else will know the responses you gave during the interview.
The information that you share with the researcher will be written up as a report for the funding body, as well as an article to publish in a journal and conference presentation.
As such there is potential for parts of your interview to be directly or indirectly quoted. Any data used in this way and as part of the resulting study will be aggregated and deidentified prior to publication or presentation.
A one page summary of the aggregate data will be available to anyone interested. Please email the researchers for a copy of this.
If you would like further information, please contact Linda Jones through email linjones@csu.edu.au or Lynne Staff lynette.staff@utas.edu.au.
Charles Sturt University’s Human Research Ethics Committee has approved this project. If you have any complaints or reservations about the ethical conduct of this project, you may contact the Committee through the Research Integrity Unit via the following contact details:
The Presiding Officer
Human Research Ethics Committee
Research Integrity Unit
Locked Bag 588
Wagga Wagga NSW 2678
Phone: (02) 6933 4213
Email: ethics@csu.edu.au
Any issues you raise will be treated in confidence and investigated thoroughly, and you will be informed of the outcome.