Grant: Project Grant

Childbearing families have the right to care that is respectful and in line with their preferences and needs. Positive birth experiences are linked to maternal and infant well-being; but discrimination and disrespect during pregnancy and birth can have long lasting negative effects on the health of a person, family, and community. Parents all over the world say that quality of care means having dignity and autonomy, cultural safety, freedom from abuse, and access to perinatal services in their community or on ancestral lands. Our research shows that harmful interactions are common during pregnancy and childbirth, especially among racialized and historically oppressed people, yet strategies to address these serious issues are scarce. This community-led research project will explore the factors that affect quality of care for pregnant persons from different identities, circumstances, or backgrounds. Over the past year, over 6000 people in Canada have described their childbearing journey through the national RESPCCT survey, and parents have worked with our team to explore childbearing care among Indigenous people, immigrant and refugee communities, those who live with disabilities, and across Two Spirit, queer, or trans families. Using accessible data display, storytelling, and visual techniques, we will support community members and knowledge users to explore and interpret the findings, to decide on key messages, how to share the stories, and who needs to hear them. We have engaged over 50 community partners and scholars who bring their lived experience to this work. After analyzing data from respondents who identify with these non-dominant populations, we plan to work together to co-create a multimedia public information package on high quality, rights-based care. We will design social media tools, infographics, poems, podcasts, video and theatre performances to demonstrate the effects of mistreatment, and also what kind, supportive, respectful care looks like.