UCC School of Nursing and Midwifery Annual Report 2020

Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC

THEME 3 – MATERNITY, FAMILIES AND PRIMARY CARE (MF&PC)

FOCUS OF RESEARCH The MF&PC research team are qualified research-experienced nurses, midwives,

AIM The aim of the Maternity, Families and Primary Care research team is to lead and collaborate in developing multidisciplinary research. The purpose of our research is to support women, children, fathers and families throughout the perinatal period from preconception to the early years of a child’s life in diverse social community settings. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES • To improve the health and wellbeing of women, men, children and their families. • To engage in research which reflects international and national policy ensuring research projects positively influence public health priorities. • Promote research areas of expertise of team members and attract Post Graduate students to study in these areas to build research capacity in specific contexts to provide evidence based knowledge that will influence policy and practice. • To provide an opportunity for collaborative multidisciplinary research reflecting complexity of care for families in the community, ensuring excellence in evidence base translational health outcomes. • To conduct research that will influence and promote better health for women, men, children, mother/father infant dyads and families. • To advance nursing and midwifery knowledge and expertise that contributes to international clinical best practice. • To work in a co-operative manner with Health Service Providers to provide empirical findings to guide the care and support of women, new mothers, fathers and families, through all stages of the perinatal period.

public health nurses, an epidemiologist, and a statistician committed to improving the bio- psychosocial health of women, mothers, fathers and their children. The context of the research reflects the diverse clinical care settings from hospital wards, out-reach community clinics, primary care centres to people’s own homes. Research areas of expertise include midwifery led care, public health nursing care, transition to motherhood, fatherhood and parenthood, perinatal mental health, parental concerns in relation to child growth and development, parental/infant attachment, nurse/client relationships, working with vulnerable families, social support, the experience of pregnancy after pregnancy loss, maternal parental self- efficacy, postnatal depression, tocophobia, infant feeding including breastfeeding, social support, kangaroo care, preterm parenting, and many others. The following five stories provide examples of some of the work undertaken as part of this research group in 2020.

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