• Researcher List

  Jenny Gamble
  Monica Campo
  Hannah Dahlen
   

• Featured Researchers

  Caesareans are increasingly becoming a topic of interest in sociological and psychological research. Below we'll be making a list of researchers who are investigating the impact of caesareans on women, their families and society.

  Jenny Gamble
  Convenor - Master of Midwifery program and lecturer at Griffith University School of Nursing and Midwifery.
  j.gamble@griffith.edu.au

  I am a midwife with over 20 years experience including ten years in private practice predominantly providing a homebirth service. My key research areas are women�s emotional health around the time of birth, including fear of birth, acute trauma symptoms, depression and the link to caesarean section (CS). I have researched women�s preference for caesarean section and recently completed a second review of the literature on this topic. For my doctoral research, I developed and tested, using a randomised controlled trial, a counselling intervention to reduce symptoms of trauma in postpartum women. The development of trauma symptoms is associated with caesarean section. I am currently involved in studies to improve midwives' ability to provide appropriate emotional care to childbearing women and promoting a positive transition to parenthood for couples. Please contact me if you would like copies of any or my papers.

  Monica Campo
  PhD candidate at La Trobe University  School of Social Sciences
  mccampo@students.latrobe.edu.au

  My research examines the social construction of birth knowledge in textual sources and by pregnant women, particularly around caesarean birth. It involves analysis of professional and popular media, internet forums as well as in depth interviews with pregnant women. Pregnant women are currently being interviewed before and after birth with the aim to discover ways in which women gain knowledge and understanding about childbirth and how that knowledge becomes embodied in their birth experiences. More specifically, the project seeks to re-examine the dissonance between the feminist critique of childbirth "and the beliefs, desires, reactions, and behaviours of women", as identified in Davis-Floyd's American research over a decade ago (1992).

  Hannah Dahlen
  Midwife, Researcher, Secretary NSW Midwives Association
  hannahdahlen@optusnet.com.au
  
  My research has focused mainly on women�s birth experiences in the different places of birth, and reducing perineal trauma during childbirth. I have just completed the largest randomised controlled trial into the use of warm packs on the perineum in the second stage of labour. I am also interested in the way birth, midwives and obstetricians are represented in the media and am publishing on this at present. I have also been involved in studies looking at the safety of small units and birth centres. I am currently working on research looking at the relationship between birth positions and perineal trauma. My interest in caesarean section is also strong. I am part of the Birth After Caesarean Intervention (BACHI) group at UTS and I am examining the way women talk about VBAC in web based blogg sites. I am also currently working on a theory about fear and trust in childbirth as part of this work. I am interested in just about everything that involves women and birth. I also write for Australian Parents Magazine, websites and for several midwifery magazines. You can contact me for papers or information.
   

• Your Research Suggestions

  Got a research idea?
  Is there a topic on caesareans that you think should be researched? Email your ideas to info@canaustralia.net and we'll post a list of research ideas on this page.

• Research Analysis

  Sometimes, what we read in the papers about new research doesn't match what the researchers themselves say. Why is this? Statistics are open to interpretation. An example is an increased risk from .5% to 1%. Put like that it seems pretty low but how about if it was stated as twice the risk or double the risk. How research is interpreted depends largely on who is providing comment.

CANA is a participating organisation under the umbrella of the Maternity Coalition Inc. Website copyright (c) CANA 2006. Updated March 2007.