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Faculty of Health Sciences

McMaster Midwifery Research Centre

MMRC Research Round Up: January 2020 to June 2020

A McMaster coffee mug on a wooden desk next to a stack of notebooks

2020 has come with a lot change. Since our formal inception in July 2018, we at the MMRC have been very busy and dedicated to advancing midwifery research in Canada and internationally. The research world has pivoted and as we push through these uncertain times, our trainees, staff, fellows and scientists continue to be hard at work.

As we embark on the second half of this year, we’ve rounded up on our most recent presentations and publications.

Presentations:

  • 2020 Abstract program in lieu of 76th SOGC Annual Clinical and Scientific Conference: Abdullah Haroon (former MMRC trainee) presented his work on the interactive e-book aimed to improve reproductive services and training for midwives in Pakistan. Watch his virtual abstract presentation here.
  • Markham Stouffville Hospital Alongside Midwifery Unit Rounds – May 5, 2020: Beth Murray-Davis (MMRC Director and Scientist), Carol Bernacci, and Bronte Johnston (MMRC Fellow) presented work from their project that investigates the use of point-of-care-ultrasound (POCUS) among Ontario midwives. Watch the rounds here.
  • MMRC Research Rounds – May 26, 2020: MMRC Fellow, Zheng Jing (Jimmy) Hu presented on statistical methods to describe and analyze Likert scale data. Watch the rounds here.
  • Markham Stouffville Hospital Alongside Midwifery Unit Rounds June 2, 2020: Liz Darling presented early findings from the evaluation of Canada’s first alongside midwifery unit. Watch the rounds here.
  • SMFM’s 40th’s Annual Pregnancy Meeting: Eran Ashwal, member of the Diabetes, Obesity, and Hypertension in Pregnancy Network (DOH-NET) research team presented two posters on the lifestyle modifications and fetal growth trajectories among pregnancies affected by gestational diabetes mellitus.

Publications:

Health Services & Access to Care

  • Cristina Mattison (MMRC Adjunct Scientist) published work from her doctorate in a series of studies investigating the integration of midwifery services and access to care.

Mattison CA, Wilson MG, Wang RH, Waddell K. Enhancing equitable access to assistive technologies in Canada: Insights from citizens and stakeholders. Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue canadienne du vieillissement. 2020;39(1):69-88.
Mattison CA, Lavis JN, Hutton EK, Dion ML, Wilson MG. Understanding the conditions that influence the roles of midwives in Ontario, Canada’s health system: an embedded single-case study. BMC health services research. 2020 Dec;20(1):1-5.
Mattison CA, Lavis JN, Wilson MG, Hutton EK, Dion ML. A critical interpretive synthesis of the roles of midwives in health systems. Health Research Policy and Systems. (2020) 18:77.

 

Health Outcomes

  • Liz Darling (MMRC Scientist) published work from a recent study examining trends of very early discharge among midwives in Ontario.

Darling EK, Babe G, Sorbara C, Perez R. Trends in very early discharge from hospital for newborns under midwifery care in Ontario from 2003 to 2017: a retrospective cohort study. CMAJ Open 2020 Jun 25; 8:E462-E468; doi:10.9778/cmajo.20190165

  • Angela Reitsma (MMRC Adjunct Scientist), Ginny Brunton (MMRC Adjunct Scientist), Eileen Hutton (MMRC Scientist) and members of the MMRC team published results examining maternal health outcomes associated with planned home birth in their latest systematic review. This is the part of the two-part series investigating neonatal and maternal health outcomes in home vs. hospital births.

Reitsma A, Simioni J, Brunton G, Kaufman K, Hutton EK. Maternal outcomes and birth interventions among women who begin labour intending to give birth at home compared to women of low obstetrical risk who intend to give birth in hospital: A systematic review and meta-analyses. EClinicalMedicine. 2020 Apr 1;21:100319.

  • Beth Murray-Davis (MMRC Director and Scientist) and colleagues published results from a collaborative study examining the current state of developmental origins of health and disease (DOHAD) knowledge in Canada:

McKerracher L, Moffat T, Barker M, McConnell M, Atkinson SA, Murray Davis B, McDonald SD, Sloboda DM. Knowledge about the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease is independently associated with variation in diet quality during pregnancy. Maternal & child nutrition. 2020 Apr;16(2):e12891.

  • Beth Murray-Davis and members of the DOH-NET published articles investigating gestational weight gain counselling practices, maternal BMI and presence of DOH in a series of studies looking at preterm birth, twin and singleton pregnancies.

Berger H, Melamed N, Murray-Davis B, Hasan H, Mawjee K, Barrett J, McDonald SD, Geary M, Ray JG. Impact of diabetes, obesity and hypertension on preterm birth: Population-based study. PloS one. 2020 Mar 25;15(3):e0228743.
Ram M, Berger H, Lipworth H, Geary M, McDonald SD, Murray-Davis B, Riddell C, Hasan H, Barrett J, Melamed N. The relationship between maternal body mass index and pregnancy outcomes in twin compared with singleton pregnancies. International Journal of Obesity. 2020 Jan;44(1):33-44.
Murray-Davis B, Berger H, Melamed N, Mawjee K, Syed M, Barrett J, Ray JG, Geary M, McDonald SD. Gestational weight gain counselling practices among different antenatal health care providers: a qualitative grounded theory study. BMC pregnancy and childbirth. 2020 Jan 1;20(1):102.

  • Eileen Hutton, Katherine Morrison (MMRC Adjunct Scientist) and colleagues published results from the GI-MDH consortium focussed on changes in microbiota during infancy and childhood.

Galazzo G, van Best N, Bervoets L, Dapaah IO, Savelkoul PH, Hornef MW, Hutton EK, Morrison K, Holloway AC, McDonald H, Ratcliffe EM. Development of the microbiota and associations with birth mode, diet, and atopic disorders in a longitudinal analysis of stool samples, collected from infancy through early childhood. Gastroenterology. 2020 Jan 18.

Interprofessional Education:

  • Liz Darling, Eileen Hutton and MMRC team members published their recent findings on resident attitudes toward caesarean delivery among across Canada.

Friedman CL, Ahmed RJ, Hutton EK, Darling EK. Resident Attitudes Towards Caesarean Delivery in Canadian Obstetrics and Gynaecology Residency Programs. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada. 2020 Jan 1;42(1):16-24.

  • Liz Darling and Vicki Van Wagner published a chapter in the book Health Matters: Evidence, Critical Social Science, and Health Care in Canada.

Van Wagner V, Darling EK. 5 Disputing Evidence: Canadian Health Professionals’ Responses to Evidence about Midwifery. Health Matters: Evidence, Critical Social Science, and Health Care in Canada. 2020 May 12:92.

 

Interested in learning more about the work done at the MMRC? Read our first annual report here.

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