title: Developing strategies to gather information about the maternity experiences of indigenous women in an acute care setting.
abstract: This project emerged from the concerns of health care professionals at a large acute care hospital in the Northern Territory of Australia. The aim of the project was to develop educational resources through information and experiences provided by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and health care professionals. The objectives are to optimise collaboration and participation by Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander women in sharing their maternity experiences about the birthing of their baby either in hospital, or out of hospital before arrival. Stage one of a three stage project is reported here. In stage one a modified Delphi method was used to interview ten purposefully chosen professional Indigenous women with insight into the research process and changing social arrangements. Stage two involved the development of an interview schedule and face-to-face interviews. Stage three includes the development of a questionnaire to be answered by health care professionals. Discussion of the background to the study, reviewed literature and issues identified from interviews with the professional Indigenous women regarding best methods and appropriate data collection processes is presented. Research described here explores issues of concern for Indigenous women from the Northern Territory around their child birthing experiences in an acute care setting.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Nursing and Research (CCNR) Northern Territory University, PO Box 41326, Casuarina Northern Territory 0811, Australia. jennifer.watson@ntu.edu.au
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hodson
authors.forename: Rhona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D003697:Delphi Technique; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods; D007743:Labor, Obstetric / Q000208:ethnology; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D015876:Northern Territory; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research / Q000379:methods; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D010358:Patient Participation; D011247:Pregnancy; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods; D000095283:Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples