UPDATE 65
MAMMI study launches online resource New repository will help women, mothers and health professionals
A suite of free on-line resources for motherhood aimed at women, mothers and healthcare professionals has been launched by the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin. The resources will provide evidence-based information aimed at addressing women’s knowledge gaps, breaking the silence around embarrassing or sensitive health issues, and enabling women to self-assess and take action for their health. The resources have been developed from the findings of the Maternal Health and Maternal Morbidity in Ireland (MAMMI) study, an Irish longitudinal study which examined the health and health problems experienced by over 3,000 first-time mothers around Ireland, and is based on what women said they wished they had known before they became mothers. The findings suggest that although women experience a range of health issues in the postpartum period, the health of mothers is frequently overlooked or secondary to their baby’s health, because the main focus of care is on child-health issues. These health issues, which are often preventable and curable if recog- nised and treated early, negatively impact on women’s physical and mental health, preventing them from fully enjoying life and motherhood. Following birth, postpartum healthcare and information becomes almost exclu- sively child focused; women say that they struggle to access reliable resources and trustworthy information regarding their own health and the health problems they might be experiencing. The new on-line resources are divided into three areas: • Women’s Health After Motherhood (WHAM) • Motherhood, Empowerment, Sustainable Self-help: Addressing Gaps in Education with Science (MESSAGES) • Towards Recovery After Childbirth, through Knowledge (ON-TRACK). The WHAM course, hosted on the FutureLearn platform, presents a diverse range of online resources, designed and developed by women who recently became mothers and maternal health experts. The educational materials aim
The new online resource was launched last month.The course offers advice and strategies on how to prioritise postpartum care and help women to support one another during the postpartumperiod. It addresses common physical andmental health challenges after birth,and teaches women how to help themselves and when to seek professional healthcare
to bring care home to women by offering them and professionals evidence-based content on postnatal maternal health in the form of videos, articles, interactive activities, downloadable infographics, self-assessments and coached tasks. The MESSAGES project contains self- help and educational videos and materials to help women understand the causes of, and conservative treatments for, urinary incontinence. The resources include mate- rial to help women self-assess and track their progress. The MESSAGES project is funded by Science Foundation Ireland. ONTRACK is a series of education videos on pelvic girdle pain, postpartum sexual health and postpartum anxiety funded by the Health Research Board Knowledge Exchange Dissemination Scheme (KEDS). Dr Deirdre Daly, assistant professor in midwifery and principal investigator of the MAMMI study, said: “The MAMMI study was set up as a study with and for women. From the very start, and especially after we shared the findings with women at various events and seminars, women kept telling us to ‘do something about these findings’, ‘you have to break the silence’ and ‘you have to do something to make it better for future mothers’. “Working in partnership with MAMMI study participants, healthcare pro- fessionals including women’s health physiotherapists, a perinatal psychiatrist, and other experts in mental health, sexual health and domestic violence, we spent the last year designing these wonderful, reliable and trustworthy resources for
women, and for healthcare professionals to use to complement their practice. The fact that these resources are co-designed with women means they are highly rele- vant to women as they become mothers. They cover, in the words of so many women, ‘what I wish I had known’.” Naomi Donaldson, from Dublin, a par- ticipant in the MAMMI study who assisted in the development of the new resources, said: “Every question I had as a new mother felt like a stupid question to me. I felt I was the only one experiencing motherhood as I did. I realised through the MAMMI study that for the most part, everyone is going through the same thing. Those ‘stupid ques- tions’ aren’t stupid at all and they are all answered within the new on-line resources that are being launched today. If the resources had been available when I had my baby, they would have allowed me to prepare myself for the loneliness, isolation and guilt you feel as a new mum.” Margie McCarthy, head of education and public engagement at Science Foun- dation Ireland, said:“Science Foundation Ireland is delighted to support the MESSAGES project, which highlights how clearly written, easy-to-access evidence based literature can signifi- cantly improve people’s everyday lives. By working directly with mothers who have experienced issues after childbirth to co-create these important resources, they are more effective, more relevant and accessible to all.” To find out more about the suite of online resources, visit: www.futurelearn.com/courses/ womens-health-after-motherhood
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