The Stillbirth CRE’s work, in close collaboration with a wide range of partners, is important to women and families and needs to continue, at scale. Our pre-budget submission builds on current work to ensure we're equipped to continue the research, innovation and implementation that will be required to realise our important goal of reducing stillbirth rates in Australia by 20 per cent or more by the end of next year.
The submission is presented in two parts - the first highlighting two of the many pieces of work we are expanding, including the Safer Baby Bundle and improving best practice bereavement care. With projected federal funding diminishing over coming years, the second part of the submission offers the government a range of costed policy options for consideration. These policy options are designed to expand, amplify and widely disseminate the best practice already established through federal funding.
As we wrap up another great year, we would like to take the opportunity to express our heartfelt appreciation for your ongoing support throughout the year.
We are so proud of what we have been able to achieve through the power of collaboration and a shared commitment in reducing the devastating impact of perinatal loss on families. We have more work to do and look forward to working together on some more exciting projects in 2024.
During the festive season, we want to extend our love and support to all the parents out there, whether you are holding your child in your arms or in your heart. If you need support or would just like to talk to someone who understands, contact with RedNose, Pink Elephant or Bears of Hope.
A message from the directors:
Reflecting on the close of another busy and productive year working together to address stillbirth in Australia. Together, we stand proud of the progress achieved towards improving care and outcomes for families. From significant strides in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and multicultural initiatives in adapting the Safer Baby Bundle resources, to the exceptional efforts updating the Clinical Practice Guideline for Care Around Stillbirth and Neonatal Death (soon to be released), compiling a list of key National Stillbirth Research Priorities and much more.
To our esteemed partners and collaborators; it has been an absolute pleasure working with each of you this year. A special thanks to all the parents involved across the Stillbirth CRE, your experience and stories are so important and we are immensely grateful for your contributions. If you are a bereaved parent and would like to contribute meaningfully to stillbirth research, our resource ‘Getting Involved in Stillbirth Research: A guide for bereaved parents’ by the Project Engage team is available for free via our website.
Finally, a huge thank you to the incredible efforts of our team at the Stillbirth CRE HQ. Your exceptional work, support and dedication have been the cornerstone of our achievements this year and we couldn’t do this work without you.
We know this time of year can be difficult for families who have experienced the loss of a child and our thoughts are with you during this holiday season. Looking ahead to 2024, our commitment remains resolute—to further reduce the incidence of stillborn babies and to improving care for families navigating this tragedy. We look forward to continuing this important work in the coming year.
Prof Vicki Flenady and Prof David Ellwood
New culturally adapted Safer Baby resources
In October, we successfully launched the culturally adapted Safer Baby resources. Our aim is to provide Indigenous and migrant communities with tailored messaging and tools for a safer pregnancy. We are committed to working together to reduce stillbirth and improve maternal and child health outcomes.
To access the Safer Baby Bundle resources, please visit:
New Bereavement care resource for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
Jiba Pepeny is a bereavement resource aimed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It was developed by Skye Stewart, who is a Wergaia and Wemba Wemba woman from Mallee Victoria, through a Stillbirth CRE Indigenous scholarship.
This resource was designed to be given to families when they first hear the news about their baby passing away and it will stay with them for a few weeks to months after birth. It was developed to address the reality of there being no resources available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who experience disproportionately higher stillbirth rates than non-Indigenous communities.
Available soon, contact stillbirthcre@mater.uq.edu.au
Guideline
In October, the Stillbirth CRE submitted the 2024 edition of the Care Around Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Clinical Practice Guideline to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for approval. This edition of the guideline was developed by a multidisciplinary working group led by the Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE) in partnership with the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ). This guideline represents our shared vision to improve care for parents and families who experience the tragedy of stillbirth or neonatal death.
This guideline includes 127 recommendations spanning seven major areas related to care around perinatal death.
Resources for putting the recommendations in place include a parent version of the guideline, guidance for audit and research activities, and information to support decisions about investigations.
The guideline will be available on our website in early 2024.
Placental consortium
The Stillbirth CRE Placental Consortium 2024 has been running seminars each month since April to engage researchers working in placental biology to discuss their work in the context of stillbirth. This year was another successful tour deforce of cutting edge research with international speakers joining the seminar program at odd hours of the day to present their work from the University of Auckland, Kings College London and Yale University. We had contributions from University of QLD, Griffith University, University of Western Sydney, University of Newcastle, University of Melbourne, Monash, Royal Women’s Hospital Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney and University of South Australia. A diverse range of topics were covered including placental inflammation, stress, placental insufficiency, mitochondrialdys function, extracellular vesicles, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and detecting the small placenta in appropriately grown for gestational age fetuses.
There were calls for collaborations and several teams from across Australia are working together to examine placental dysfunction across the birthweight centile continuum including Dr Ashley Meakin, Dr Melanie Smith, Prof Janna L Morrison, Prof Claire T Roberts, Dr Martha Lappas, Dr Stacy Ellery, Dr Olivia Holland, Prof Anthony Perkins, A/Prof Adam Ewing, Dr Sharon McCracken, & Prof Vicki Clifton with exciting data showing the persistence of placental dysfunction in small appropriately grown for gestational age fetuses.
The seminars will continue into 2024 and publications and grant applications are expected from the work currently being conducted in 2024. If you want to get involved please email stillbirthcre@mater.uq.edu.au
IMPROVE
The IMPROVE program has seen significant engagement and impact across Australia throughout 2023. The Stillbirth CRE and PSANZ in partnership with local health services, have facilitated 15 in person IMPROVE workshops in ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, TAS and WA. This training has supported 442 healthcare professionals to provide best practice care after a baby has died.
The IMPROVE team also ran 2 successful train the trainer workshops, virtually in NSW and in person in the NT. There were a further 550 healthcare professionals who have completed the IMPROVE eLearning in the past 12 months.
The impact of these workshops and eLearning modules continues to resonate positively with healthcare professionals, equipping them with essential skills and knowledge to best support families after perinatal loss.
If you are interested in hosting an IMPROVE workshop at your local hospital in 2024, get in touch with us improve@mater.uq.edu.au
Project Engage
Since May 2023, bereaved parents interested in getting involved in research were invited to join the research involvement registry. Currently over 100 bereaved community members have joined; mostly bereaved mothers, and some fathers, grandparents and siblings. We have conducted welcome chats with approximately a quarter of registrants and share research opportunities and updates via a quarterly newsletter.
Bereaved parents from the research involvement registry have gotten involved in various ways including
The level of engagement and feedback we have received has been incredibly positive, providing evidence that this research involvement registry and accompanying resource is well regarded by the bereaved community. Here's what bereaved parents are saying:
“I found this whole process really fulfilling and worthy of my time - appreciate the inclusion.”
“Such a fulfilling and rewarding time knowing we are trying to help change the future so families either ultimately don't experience loss, or at a minimum have an overall improved experience due to knowledge we have provided to make things better. …thank you for the experience, opportunity, and process of this research group.”
If you are interested in becoming involved, our resource ‘Getting Involved in Stillbirth Research: A guide for bereaved parents’ is available for free via our website. You can sign up to our research involvement registry here.
If you have a research project you would like to advertise in our quarterly newsletter or are looking to involve bereaved parents in your research activities, please get in touch stillbirthcre@mater.uq.edu.au
The PSANZ 2024 Congress is just around the corner, taking place from April 7th to 10th in the beautiful city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Our team is excited to be hosting a symposium during the conference on the 9th April and will also be co-hosting a pre-congress workshop on the morning of 6th April alongside The Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance.
To purchase your ticket for the Pre-PSANZ program, click here.
To purchase your tickets for the PSANZ congress, click here.
We can't wait to see you there!
Announcing the 2023 PhD Top-up recipients
Congratulations to the successful recipients of the Stillbirth CRE 2023 PhD Top-up scholarships. These scholarships are designed to support exceptional PhD candidates whose projects align with the Stillbirth CRE's mission. The following applicants have been awarded full scholarships of $9,000 each:
In addition, two applicants were awarded a part-scholarship of $4,500:
Congratulations to Dr Siobhan Loughnan, winner of the Mater Research Early Career Researcher prize. This prize is awarded to an early career researcher in recognition of exceptional work towards the discovery, translation, and integration of new knowledge into improved healthcare and education practices across Mater.
Siobhan joined the Stillbirth CRE in September 2019, and her research focuses on evidence-based care around stillbirth and neonatal death. She is an active member of the Stillbirth CRE Steering Committee, and her strong publication academic record has resulted in a $980,000 grant as Chief Investigator.
National Stillbirth Research Priorities
This year we have been undertaking a research priority setting exercise to inform our submission of national stillbirth research priorities to the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC).
We consulted with many representatives including bereaved parents, clinicians, researchers, and policy makers across Australia to hear what your research priorities are. Over 150 research questions were proposed during these consultations which were then sent out in a survey for all stakeholders to vote on their top 10 priorities. Following collation of this survey data, we were able to determine a shortlist of 26 research questions.
On Monday, 4th of December 2023, 26 representatives convened in Brisbane to review and refine this shortlist. The forum was a great success, and we came to a consensus of a top 12 list of national stillbirth research priorities. Thank you to everybody who attended the meeting and contributed to this process throughout the year.
We can’t wait to share the resulting priorities with you in the new year, following the submission to DoHAC.
2023 National Stillbirth Forum
Our annual National Stillbirth Forum including the Equity and Diversity forum was held on the 23rd and 24th of October in Brisbane. We brought together a community of clinicians, researchers, parents and policy makers to showcase the incredible work being done nationally to prevent stillbirth and improve care for families after loss. The forum combined presentations, discussion, and interactive workshops to share learnings and connect with others working in this space. A key highlight was the session titled ‘Parent voices to drive change’ with a parent panel discussing ways to improve care for women and families following the devastating loss a baby.
We were excited to officially launch the new culturally adapted Safer Baby resources at the forum. These resources aim to provide Indigenous and migrant and refugee communities with tailored messaging and tools for a safer pregnancy. To learn more about the new resources click here.
The save the date for our 2024 National Stillbirth Forum will be announced soon!
Safer Baby Bundle
Here’s a snapshot of what the Safer Baby Bundle (SBB) team have been up to!
The SBB eLearning remains highly valued amongst clinicians with almost 2000 completing this in the past 12 months! The team has been busy in the past 6 months presenting at various conferences and workshops across the country:
National Safer Baby Bundle (SBB) Virtual Forum
On the 24th of August we hosted the third annual National SBB Virtual Forum. The 4-hour free online event included presentations, interactive discussion sessions, and the first public presentation of the new Timing of Birth Education Program.
There were 355 attendees from across all jurisdictions, showing a continued investment and interest in the initiative from Australian clinicians.
Fetal Growth Restriction workshop in ACT
In partnership with ACT Health we recently ran a Fetal Growth Restriction face to face for 39 maternity healthcare professionals. 100% of participants who completed the post evaluation survey said that the workshop improved their knowledge around detection and management of fetal growth restriction. If you’re interested in hosting a workshop, please get in touch with us via email saferbabybundle@mater.uq.edu.au
Timing of Birth research program update
The aim of the Timing of Birth (TOB) study is to implement and pilot test a package of resources to improve communication between pregnant women and their healthcare professionals around stillbirth risk, and to promote shared decision-making about optimal timing of birth and increase women’s confidence to make decisions about timing of birth. The resources include an educational program and a clinical decision support tool as well as a decision aid for women. The pilot study involves implementation and evaluation of the resources across 5 selected hospital sites in Queensland.
Early results at the Gold Coast University Hospital indicate that the TOB resources have been received positively by clinical staff. The new resources have also had a positive reception across a multidisciplinary audience.
There has been a strong request for inclusion of more detail on stillbirth risk data, which has been incorporated for use across the remaining study sites. The study team including Prof. David Ellwood (Obstetric Lead) and Tash Cocker (Midwife study coordinator) travelled to Townsville Hospital recently as part of study activities. Staff attended education sessions to find out more about the study and the resources being trialed. Final results from the evaluation are anticipated to be available in mid 2024.
Get to know our researchers!
This week, we had the pleasure of spending a few minutes with Dr Jessica Sexton, where she shared insights into her current projects and why she is passionate about her work here.
Dr Sexton is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stillbirth CRE and Leads the Data to Drive Change Program.
Important new statistics on stillbirth and neonatal death in Australia recently released: Australia's mothers and babies: Stillbirths and neonatal deaths - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au)
Important research paper in The Lancet found more funding needed for stillbirth research: Research funding for newborn health and stillbirths, 2011–20: a systematic analysis of levels and trends
The team have been busy this year publishing results, see below links to the publications that our researchers have contributed to.
BJOG Vulnerable Newborn Series publication: Neonatal mortality risk of large-for-gestational-age and macrosomic live births in 15 countries, including 115.6 million nationwide linked records, 2000–2020
ANZJOG study: Validation of a tool for determining the clinical utility of stillbirth investigations
ANZJOG study: A systematic review of interventions to increase the use of smoking cessation services for women who smoke during pregnancy
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth study: Ending preventable stillbirths and improving bereavement care: a scorecard for high- and upper-middle income countries
Social Sciences & Humanities Open study: Scoping review of nature-based interventions in bereavement care: What are the implications for perinatal loss?
BMJ Open study: SuPreme Study: a protocol to study the neuroprotective potential of sulfate among very/extremely preterm infants
The Lancet study: Small babies, big risks: global estimates of prevalence and mortality for vulnerable newborns to accelerate change and improve counting
Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific study: Improving maternal and newborn health and reducing stillbirths in the Western Pacific Region– Current situation and the way forward
ANZJOG study: Parents’ descriptions of labouring with an antepartum fetal death: Findings from the Birthing in Grief study
Showcasing our year of achievements at Mater Research | Mirage News
Once again, thank you for your continued support and we look forward to working with you in 2024!
FIRST Nations women as well as migrant and refugee women from communities disproportionately impacted by stillbirth have been involved in co-designing new culturally appropriate pregnancy resources, to save the lives of babies in their own communities.
Stillbirth rates in Australia remain tragically high, with six babies stillborn on average, every day. A suite of sensitively-crafted, in-language resources, called 'Stronger Bubba Born' and 'Growing a Healthy Baby', have been developed from the evidence-based Safer Baby Bundle to improve maternity care for these communities and contribute to reducing stillbirth rates in Australia by 20 per cent.
It is believed between 20 and 30 per cent of late gestation stillbirths are preventable with better care, however systemic healthcare barriers can prevent important discussions about stillbirth prevention.
These new resources have been developed through extensive community consultation and input from health educators, to ensure the information and illustrations are culturally appropriate and reduce the devastating impact of stillbirth on these communities.
This important work has involved two years of consultation and development, and is an extension of the Safer Baby Bundle created by the Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence (Stillbirth CRE).
The Mater Research-based Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence Director, Professor Vicki Flenady, said “stillbirth rates are significantly higher among First Nations and some migrant and refugee communities, compared to the general population, and we need to tackle this by ensuring these communities have care and resources that meet their needs.”
“The Safer Baby Bundle is an evidence-based initiative designed to improve maternity care and drive down stillbirth rates in Australia, and we’ve already seen it work in Victoria. These new culturally sensitive resources, which have been carefully co-designed with the communities we are seeking to reach, will be central to the work we now need to do to reduce the burden of stillbirth among women at greatest risk,” Professor Flenady said.
Senior Advisor of Indigenous Research at Stillbirth CRE, Deanna Stuart-Butler said two years of consultation across Australia - from yarning circles to community and healthcare worker interviews - went into making sure evidence-based practice was implemented in First Nations communities' own ways of “knowing, being and doing”.
“Without discounting the diversity across First Nations communities, these messages are presented in a lingo that our community speaks, understands and can relate to,” Ms Stuart-Butler said.
“Even though the clinical information is consistent with the mainstream Safer Baby Bundle messages, the way it has been presented also caters to our mob's cultural considerations, which our team thought was very important for these resources to be accepted by the community.
“We hope that this two-pronged approach of targeting women as well as clinicians through evidence-based and culturally appropriate messaging on stillbirth prevention will help reduce the number of preventable stillbirths in our First Nations communities.”
About Stronger Bubba Born (resources for First Nations communities)
For First Nations women and their families to reduce the risk of Sorry Business Baby (stillbirth), the new Stronger Bubba Born resources include flyers and videos that are available at the Stronger Bubba Born website. These resources were developed by the Stillbirth CRE Indigenous research team with the guidance of the Indigenous Advisory Group. Delivery partner Curtin University supported the extensive consultation and co-design process. The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) and the Waminda South Coast Women’s Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation are also collaborators with the CRE on their Indigenous work.
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) board member and Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health board member Dr Nisha Khot said many migrants came from countries where routine pregnancy care, especially in early pregnancy, wasn’t the norm and these resources communicated the reasons for that care.
“In a lot of migrant communities, there’s a sense that bad outcomes can’t be prevented. Women may feel that a stillbirth might be their fault. It’s important to communicate that, no, this is something that can be prevented and these are the ways of preventing it,” Dr Khot said.
“Having this information in a language they can understand, discussed in a culturally sensitive way, can make a difference to the stillbirth rates because women themselves can take the preventative steps that we know work.”
Dr Fatima El-Assaad gave birth to her daughter Aya, who was stillborn, in 2021. She said she realised many bereaved parents were not aware that stillbirth could happen to them.
Dr El-Assaad said GPs and midwives could have discreet conversations about stillbirth while being open to understanding what the woman knew and felt about the topic, and then use the resources to extend those conversations in a respectful way.
“Some migrant and refugee communities, and First Nations communities, have the highest rates of stillbirth in our country. If we are committed to reducing the national stillbirth rates, it is essential that these communities can access culturally sensitive resources in a language they understand. Helping communities understand the steps to progressing a safer pregnancy may help to reduce the risk of preventable stillbirths. These resources will also help health professionals engage meaningfully with these women and provide culturally sensitive and competent care,” she said.
About Growing a Healthy Baby (migrant and refugee communities)
Arabic, Dari, Dinka and Karen-speaking communities now have access to important tailored information in the form of a written booklet, summary video and self-paced digital booklet with audio. These resources are now available at the Growing a Healthy Baby website. A network of community groups and health educators from the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH) and the Stronger Futures CRE at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) worked with the Stillbirth CRE to develop these in-language resources.
New word for word translations in 25 languages
In addition, this latest information has also been translated into 25 languages and is available on the CRE’s Safer Baby website, saferbaby.org.au/, and available with all resources for healthcare professionals at learn.stillbirthcre.org.au/.
The five key areas covered in these new resources, and the Safer Baby Bundle, include:
The cultural adaptation of the Safer Baby Bundle has been funded by the Australian Government.
Contact the Stillbirth CRE team for more information via email stillbirthcre@mater.uq.edu.au.
In the depths of insurmountable grief over the loss of her baby daughter, Fatima El-Assaad felt like she was totally alone.
Dr El-Assaad gave birth to her daughter Aya, who was stillborn, in 2021.
"In that moment, you honestly think that you're the only one experiencing this and that nobody can really relate to the sorrow and the grief and the depths of despair that you're feeling," she said.
"It almost feels quite foreign because your mind never really goes there until you do experience it.
"Unbeknownst to me, it's actually a very common experience."
Read the full ABC Online article by Antonia O'Flaherty here>>
Australian midwives and other maternity services clinicians will be trained in a nation-wide bereavement program, thanks to a $980,000 grant awarded by the Federal Government today to enhance support for parents who experience the death of a baby during pregnancy (miscarriage or stillbirth) or soon after birth (neonatal death).
The Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence (Stillbirth CRE), based at Mater Research and as a collaboration between Mater Research and The University of Queensland, will use the funding over four-years to address the educational needs of healthcare professionals in providing appropriate and respectful best practice care to grieving families.
Stillbirth CRE Director and Professor Vicki Flenady said more than 2,200 babies are stillborn each year in Australia, and many grieving families are not receiving the level of care they need.
“The death of a baby during pregnancy is devastating for parents and families, and can lead to significant emotional distress, long-lasting grief and psychological illness,” Professor Flenady said.
“There is still a significant gap in delivering consistent, high quality bereavement care across Australia, with health professionals reporting various barriers including referral pathways to allied health providers, and lack of education and training.
“This funding will go a long way towards bridging that gap, by enhancing Stillbirth CRE’s IMPROVE program for healthcare professionals, so they have the skills and resources they need to confidently and respectfully respond to parents and families who have experienced stillbirth and miscarriage.”
One in six babies born in Australia each day are stillborn and up to one in five confirmed pregnancies end in miscarriage before 20 weeks.
The rates are higher among specific groups including First Nations people, culturally and linguistically diverse families, refugee and migrant communities, women and families living in rural and remote areas, and women under 20 years old.
Chief Investigator Dr Siobhan Loughnan (Senior Research Officer, Stillbirth CRE) says this funding will improve the quality of care and outcomes for parents and families who experience perinatal loss in Australia.
“Best practice care is vital and relies on frontline maternity care providers who are equipped for this challenging role,” Dr Loughnan said.
“We will enhance and expand our existing successful education program to holistically address the training and education needs of healthcare professional including greater focus on cultural safety and inclusiveness for First Nations, South Asian and African-born families; early pregnancy loss and miscarriage care in a subsequent pregnancy after loss; and also acknowledging and supporting the emotional wellbeing of healthcare professionals who care for parents at this devastating time.
“The National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan recognises stillbirth as a public health issue and includes actions to address equity gaps, such as the need for culturally appropriate bereavement care.
“Each of these communities has different needs and we want to ensure they feel understood and supported through this difficult journey.
“In having harmonised and consistent information and resources for clinicians and parents thorough this national education program, we can make a significant difference in caring for grieving parents and families not just medically, but emotionally.”
The grant, announced today by Federal Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Ged Kearney, will ensure enhanced capability and understanding by clinicians of bereavement care. “Stillbirth can have a devastating impact on women and their families, resulting in ongoing grief, anxiety and depression as well as social and financial losses,” Assistant Minister Kearney said. “Our Government is committed to reducing the tragedy of stillbirths on our nation, and particularly to support those in our community who experience stillbirth and miscarriage at a disproportionately high rate to receive timely and appropriate care.”
ENDS
Media Contact:
Anita Hastings, Mater Communications
0417 398 658 | anita.hastings@mater.org.au
Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth
+ 61 7 3163 5330 | stillbirthcre@mater.uq.edu.au
Get to know our researchers here at the Stillbirth CRE! This week, we had the pleasure of spending a few minutes with Dr Jessica Sexton, where she shared insights into her current projects and why she is passionate about her work here.
I have been with the CRE since 2018, previously as a PhD student and currently as a clinical epidemiologist.
The Data to Drive Change Program is my current area of work where I am very excited to support and lead data-centric projects.
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a clinical epidemiologist is the potential to make a direct impact on patient care. By conducting research on risk estimation, clinical epidemiologists can provide evidence-based recommendations to clinicians and improve patient outcomes.
In addition, I often work in interdisciplinary teams with clinicians, public health professionals, and other researchers, which can provide opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange. This can be especially rewarding when working on complex health issues that require a multidisciplinary approach.
This would most certainly be the stillbirth risk prediction model as part of the ongoing work related to the Safer Baby Bundle. It was exciting to develop a novel way to incorporate remoteness as a potential proxy indicator for environmental risk in a statistical model.
Using data to address clinical and public health issues has always been a key interest of mine. My background as an epidemiologist began in the classroom where I trained as a biomedical laboratory scientist. This undergraduate program provided a strong science foundation that enabled me to focus on building statistical and quantitative skills in a post-graduation epidemiology program. During a research project as a student in a postgraduate program, an opportunity to study neonatal sepsis ultimately lead to my interest in focusing on maternal and child health.
Epidemiology is the study of how diseases spread and how they can be controlled or prevented. One of the main motivations for pursuing research in epidemiology is the potential to improve public health and save lives. Epidemiologists are also motivated by the challenge of understanding complex systems and interactions between different factors that contribute to poor health outcomes. This requires a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates knowledge from fields such as midwifery, medicine, statistics, and psychology.
In addition to the potential for improving public health, I am motivated by the potential for perinatal research to have a global impact. By understanding the factors that contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes and developing effective interventions, epidemiologists can help to prevent or minimize perinatal mortality on a global scale.
Develop a strong foundation in statistics and data analysis. Epidemiology relies heavily on the use of statistical methods to analyse and interpret data, so it is essential to have a strong understanding of statistical concepts and methods.
Familiarise yourself with the literature. Read widely in your field to develop a deep understanding of the key concepts, methods, and findings that have shaped epidemiology. This will help you to develop a critical perspective and identify areas where you can make a unique contribution.
Collaborate with others. Epidemiology is a highly collaborative field, and working with others can help you to gain new insights and perspectives, as well as develop important skills such as project management, teamwork, and communication.
Pursue opportunities to gain practical experience. Seek out opportunities to gain hands-on experience with data collection, analysis, and interpretation. This may include internships, research assistantships, or volunteer work with public health organizations.
Finally, be persistent and resilient. Research can be challenging, and setbacks and failures are a normal part of the process. Keep pushing forward, learn from your mistakes, and don't be afraid to ask for help or guidance when you need it.
The next set of goals involves funding applications to begin establishing independence as a researcher. Wish me luck!
Making pottery and coffee with my dogs at Our Space Brisbane!
Welcome to the latest edition!
We have a big year ahead of us and we're excited to share our progress with you. Read on for updates on soon to be released resources, upcoming events, job opportunities within the team and much more.
Annual National Stillbirth Forum
The Annual National Stillbirth Forum is happening in October 2023. Keep an eye out, dates to be released soon!
Placental Consortium Seminar Series
The Placental Consortium Seminar Series is held on the third Wednesday of every month (April to November) and is a platform for researchers and clinicians to come together to understand the placental mechanisms that may contribute to stillbirth. The consortium aims to bring together experts from Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world to share their research, ideas and to form collaborations.
Series starts April 19, 12pm-1.15pm AEST, click on the link below to register.
ISA Conference 2023 - Reducing Inequality Local to Global
The University of Sheffield is hosting the 18th annual conference of the International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA), which also marks the 20th anniversary of the ISA's founding.
Across the world, researchers, healthcare professionals and families are working together to address every aspect of pregnancy loss. Together, we strive for excellence in our practices, research facilities, and communities to increase knowledge and save babies across the globe.
ISA conference, 29th June - 2 July 2023 register below.
QLD Women’s Health Forum
A workshop on the first 2000 days of life and its impact on women’s’ health across the life course, held on the 8th June – 9th June 2023.
COCOON Philippines Launch
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted maternity care services worldwide. In partnership with the International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA), the COCOON Global Collaboration was formed to investigate parent experiences of maternity, neonatal, and/or bereavement care during the COVID-19 pandemic and impact on parents’ psychosocial wellbeing. A cross-sectional online survey has been administered across 15 countries, and a nested qualitative study has been conducted across 7 countries to further explore the impact of the pandemic on parents who have experienced perinatal loss.
Recently, COCOON was launched in the Philippines. The launching event was attended by stakeholders from the Department of Health – Philippines, Philippine Centre for Health Research and Development, administrators from hospitals and birthing facilities, and community health workers. The team also conducted a stakeholder workshop to identify approaches and channels to disseminate and translate COCOON findings.
During the launching event, Assoc Prof Fran Boyle, Dr Siobhan Loughnan, and Dr Michelle Carty gave opening presentations to provide a global overview of the COCOON study and highlight the importance of research on stillbirth and bereavement care.
Project Engage
Finalised, endorsed and ready to go!
We are so grateful to the many bereaved parents who provided feedback and content to make this guide so special. Planned release for April.
Getting involved in stillbirth research: A guide for bereaved parents
Project Engage connects bereaved families with the research process.
Involving those who have been affected by stillbirth in the research process in a meaningful way ensures that the issues important to bereaved families are heard and prioritised. This ultimately helps the Stillbirth CRE to produce research of greater quality and relevance, to help reduce stillbirth rates, and ensure that parents and families receive the best possible care when a baby dies. Many bereaved parents want to be involved in stillbirth research and would value a resource to support this. Through Project Engage we have co-created a guide, which aims to demystify the research process for bereaved parents.
We have some great opportunities within the Stillbirth CRE team, if you are interested in learning more please see below links.
Senior Research Fellow - Stillbirth Research
https://careers.mater.org.au/en/job/497689/senior-research-fellow-stillbirth-research
Project Officer - Stillbirth CRE
https://careers.mater.org.au/en/job/497643/project-officer-stillbirth-cre
Stillbirth Future Leaders Fellowship Winner
We are very happy to officially announce Dr Teresa MacDonald as the winner of the Stillbirth Future Leaders Fellowship. This fellowship is designed to support exceptional early career stillbirth researchers whose projects align with the CRE's priority areas and make a meaningful contribution to the CRE's program of work.
Dr Teresa MacDonald is a Clinician Scientist Research Fellow with the University of Melbourne; and she works clinically as an Obstetrician at Mercy Hospital for Women. Teresa obtained her PhD in 2019. She investigated new ultrasound and blood-based biomarkers to better detect fetal growth restriction and poor placental function to reduce stillbirth. Her post-doctoral research continues in the same field.
The Stillbirth CRE’s Future Leaders Fellowship is supporting Teresa in continuing her research program. In particular, Teresa’s work aims to improve diagnosis of fetal growth restriction among ‘appropriately grown’ fetuses, by identifying those with slowing growth. Teresa has previously showed significant links between slowing fetal growth rate and poor outcomes due to placental dysfunction, even when babies are not small. Slowed fetal growth shows promise in alerting clinicians to an under-investigated group at potentially increased risk of stillbirth.
Teresa has now curated a retrospective cohort of 24,418 pregnancies with ≥2 ultrasounds from the time of the routine mid-pregnancy fetal anatomy scan or later. From these, fetal growth rate will be tested to determine its relationship with important outcomes related to fetal growth restriction, including: perinatal death, poor infant condition at birth, small (<10th centile) or severely small (<3rd centile) infants at birth, and significant neonatal nursery admissions. Teresa will quantify the risks of slowing growth, and investigate the relationship between slowing growth and levels of a new promising biomarker of placental function that circulates in the blood of pregnant women – SPINT1 – first discovered through her PhD. Teresa’s research aims to determine when ultrasounds to assess fetal growth can be done to best identify babies at risk. This will be critical information to allow assessment of fetal growth rate to become part of standard care in the clinic, whenever a growth scan is done.
Details COMING SOON for this years PhD Top Up Scholarships and Future Leaders Fellowship!
Say Their Name day
The @Rednose Say Their Name day occurred on Saturday the 25th March. Say Their Name Day helps raise awareness of pregnancy, baby and child loss. At the Stillbirth CRE we know that recognition of parenthood is an important part of best practice care and support when a baby dies. Saying their name acknowledges parents and their baby. #saytheirname
PSANZ 2023 conference in Melbourne - Highlights
The Stillbirth CRE hosted two sessions including a pre-congress and Symposium session. The Pre-congress meetings focused on best practice around stillbirth and neonatal death. We had some great discussion around the guidelines updates and some powerful parent stories highlighting the importance of implementing best practice care. The Symposium was a fantastic opportunity for a global update which including having some of our international collaborators present.
Key presentations by Stillbirth CRE collaborators were well received.
Special mention goes to PhD student Kirstin Tindal who was awarded the prestigious Ritchie Centre Translational Research Prize as an early career researcher award.
Christine Andrews (LHS) and Megan Weller (RHS) next to poster submissions.
Miranda Davies-Tuck has recently had a paper published in AJOG titled "Fetal surveillance from 39 weeks’ gestation to reduce stillbirth in South Asian born women". The study evaluates the impact of offering fetal surveillance from 39 weeks for South Asian born women who have a higher risk of stillbirth compared to other populations.
Read more here: https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(23)00146-1/fulltext
Stillbirth CRE collaborated on an article that was published in Women and Birth recently, titled "Evaluating the reach and impact of Still Six Lives: A national stillbirth public awareness campaign in Australia". The evaluation assessed the campaign effects on empowering women and increasing community awareness of stillbirth.
Read more here: https://www.womenandbirth.org/article/S1871-5192(23)00038-0/fulltext
If you would like to feature your recently published paper in our newsletter please send it through to stillbirthcre@mater.uq.edu.au.
This project forms part of the overarching Stillbirth Education and Awareness Grant Opportunity (GO2536) grant with the Public Awareness campaign component led by Red Nose in partnership with Stillbirth CRE, Stillbirth Foundation Australia and Sands.
The evaluation assessed the campaign effects on empowering women and increasing community awareness of stillbirth. The evaluation looked at changes in awareness of stillbirth and knowledge of behaviours that can reduce the risk of stillbirth among Australian women aged 18-50, and women who are pregnant, and the level of recognition of the national stillbirth public awareness campaign
This evaluation comprised of two components:
Read about the evaluation findings:
Get to know our researchers here at the Stillbirth CRE! This week, we had the pleasure of spending a few minutes with Dr Rupesh Gautam, where he shared insights into his current projects and why he is passionate about his work here.
I coordinate projects that fall under the Equity and Diversity (E&D) stream at the Stillbirth CRE (CRE).
I initially joined the CRE to work on COCOON study, which is a multi-country research study to understand the challenges and concerns of parents who were pregnant or had recently given birth during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Later I moved on to working in the E&D stream – something that I am currently involved in.
My current role involves coordinating projects where the CRE and our partners are working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander as well as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Australia. These projects aim to identify the cultural needs of those communities in stillbirth prevention by having conversations with the community members and health care providers. The ultimate goal is to contribute to reducing stillbirths in the target communities as envisaged by The National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan.
What keeps me going is the difference that the Stillbirth CRE’s work makes in reducing the devastating impact of stillbirth for women, families, and the wider community. The CRE’s work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander as well as CALD communities is also contributing towards making our health system more sensitive towards the needs of these diverse communities, and I am proud to be associated with this work.
I intend to continue working in research and to use my knowledge and experience in improving population health, with particular emphasis on equity and social determinants of health.
I spend the most time outside of work with my wife and our two-year-old son. We enjoy exploring the great Australian outdoors together.
Hello everyone,
With the festive season nearly here, the Stillbirth CRE would like to wish you a safe and peaceful holiday. This holiday season our heartfelt thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones. We trust you are able to find the time and space to connect and remember them in your own way. If you feel you need more support during the festive season, Red Nose and Bears of Hope will continue to be there for you.
The Stillbirth CRE would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support throughout the past year.
The PSANZ 2023 Congress is fast approaching and is being held from 5th – 8th of March in Melbourne.
The Stillbirth CRE will also be hosting a pre-congress half-day workshop on the 3rd of March.
More details for the pre-congress to come, keep up to date via the website below.
Project Engage is in the final development stage of co-creating a guide, which aims to demystify the research process for bereaved parents and their families. We hope this guide will help provide bereaved parents with the tools, terminology, and knowledge of the research structure and process to become involved in current and future projects.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the bereaved parents who provided feedback in our survey in August. Many components of this guide were based on bereaved parents’ feedback including, the topics that were of most interest and importance to include, the addition of examples and stories from bereaved parents about their involvement and key design aspects such as colours, graphs and images used.
If you are interested in opportunities to be involved in our research projects, or would like to stay up to date with the progress of this study, please contact us.
The Living with Loss (LWL) randomised control trial (RCT) has now concluded, and we are presently analysing the data for effectiveness and acceptability. The LWL online program has been designed by a team of parents and healthcare professional and covers a broad range of topics and evidence-based strategies to help navigate grief in the short and longer-term. The study protocol for the RCT has been published and is available to be viewed online. Please click to access the article. Feedback from LWL participants has been generally positive. We have highlighted below some of the comments from participants.
“I found the topics useful. When you are grieving & having a foggy head you need reminding of the simple strategies that work like a planner & that it is normal to experience ups and downs in grief rather than being too hard on yourself.”
“This is so pertinent. I can share this with my husband as he does not feel ready to talk to others about losing our daughter Sarah and I want to help him in the best way possible as he grieves in his own way…The characters in this particular module really spoke to me. It's been hard enough losing our baby girl let alone all the relationship issues with extended family. I was so hurt by some comments and as a result could not communicate appropriately- causing more issues and hurt. It’s nice to know it is normal to feel this way and that there are simple steps that I can take to bridge gaps and communicate needs to others. Thank you”
“I absolutely loved the stories and then how it linked into some strategies for us. Even the knowledge of grief itself and what can happen is so helpful.”
We are excited to be moving the program to a new online platform which will improve the usability and functionality. Many of these aspects have been commented on by participants while completing the program. Look out for the new-look program in the new year.
If you are interested in joining us to revise the LWL program for the national launch in 2023 please let us know by emailing stillbirthcre@mater.uq.edu.au.
Improving pregnancy care - The Stillbirth CRE is conducting a national survey of women who have given birth in Australia within the last 6 months and received most of their antenatal care in Australia. The survey only takes about 10 minute to complete. Every response will help the Safer Baby team to evaluate and improve the pregnancy care women receive in Australia, focused on reducing the rate of stillbirth. Please click the link HERE to complete.
Care in a pregnancy after loss - Becoming pregnant after the death of a baby is often a daunting prospect and can be a period of intense anxiety and fear for many parents. Improving care for parents in a pregnancy after loss has been identified in the National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan (NSAIP) and is a priority area of the Stillbirth CRE. Together with the Stillbirth Foundation Australia, Red Nose, Women’s Healthcare Australasia (WHA), we have launched two new online surveys to understand parent experiences of care and what is most important in a pregnancy after loss. Please click the link HERE for more information about the survey.
Improving stillbirth investigations across Australia – Together with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR), Red Nose Australia, Stillbirth Foundation Australia and The Royal College of Pathologists Australasia (RACP), we have launched an online survey to understand parent experiences around stillbirth investigations following the loss of a baby. The findings of this research will help inform the development of new resources to support parents and their healthcare providers around the time of a stillbirth to help parents make the decision that is best for them. Please click the link HERE for more information about the survey.
Care in a pregnancy after loss – This online survey aims to understand the maternity care services available in Australia to parents during a pregnancy after loss. We are interested in identifying the models of care available, variations across Australia and examples of best practice care. Your contribution will help inform the development of best practice guidelines and implementation of a best practice model of care for Australian health systems that leads to optimal outcomes for mothers, their babies, and families. Please click HERE for more information about this study.
Improving stillbirth investigations across Australia - The recently released National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan (NSAIP) is the first national plan to strategically address the issue of stillbirth in Australia. The plan sets out a series of actions including evaluation of current and optimal provision of medical investigations following stillbirth. Funding has now been allocated to analyse the current state/landscape supporting stillbirth investigations, with options to improve linkages and support national consistency with service delivery, including access and quality of service. Please click HERE for more information about the survey.
IMproving Perinatal Mortality Review and Outcomes Via Education (IMPROVE)
It’s been a big year for the IMPROVE program! We ran 4 Train the Trainers workshops in total across QLD, ACT, TAS and WA, and welcomed over 50 new educators to the team. We had 336 clinicians attend 12 face-to-face workshops across the country and received some really positive feedback. We couldn’t do it without our wonderful educators who volunteer their time, and would like to acknowledge all of their hard work and commitment to the program. We’re now gearing up for another big year in 2023!
IMPROVE workshops are designed to address the educational needs of health professionals involved in maternity and newborn care in managing perinatal death based on the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand’s Clinical Practice Guideline for Care Around Stillbirth and Neonatal Death.
If you would like to get involved, please contact us improve@mater.au.edu.au
Fetal Growth Restriction Workshop
The Fetal Growth Restriction online workshop was held in November, and there were 343 attendees from all over the world. There were participants from Australia, Fiji, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, Solomon Islands, South Africa and the United Kingdom. A huge thank you to Tionie, Glenn, Sean and Fabricio for running these workshops. We will send out details for the 2023 workshops updates via email and twitter, make sure you stay subscribed and join our socials so you don't miss out!
2022 Equity and Diversity Forum & Annual National Stillbirth Forum
On 3rd & 4th of November the Stillbirth CRE hosted the first Equity and Diversity Forum and the third Annual National Stillbirth Forum at the Translational Research Institute. This 2-day hybrid event included presentations, smaller breakout discussion groups and the launch of the Stillbirth Clinic Care Standard Stillbirth Clinical Care Standard (2022) | Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. This exciting program had amazing keynote speakers including Ruth De Souza who spoke on day 1 about how we can make birthing services culturally safe. On day 2 we were joined by Dr Yvette Rowe who presented about Birthing on Country and Dr Alexander Heazell who joined us live from the UK and spoke about UK's approaches to stillbirth reduction.
Across the 2 days we had about 100 in person and 140 virtual attendees join us along with a further 568 virtual attendees for the Stillbirth Clinic Standard launch session. We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our speakers and chairs and all those who assisted on the day. The webinars will be available on the Stillbirth CRE website in early 2023!
The Safer Baby Bundle team have been working hard throughout the year and have hosted multiple Forum’s across the country, including the launch in Northern Territory and two educational forums.
Western Australia Safer Baby Bundle Forum
On the 21st of November the Stillbirth CRE, Western Department of Health and the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance (The Alliance) partnered together to educate WA clinicians about the 5 elements of the Safer Baby Bundle and other best practices for stillbirth prevention. They were joined by other leading experts/groups in perinatal research space including Professor John Newnham, Professor Jane Warland, Dr Jared Watts and Dr Robina Redknap. It was an honor to hear from Cathy Nguyen who shared her experience about losing her daughter Sage bringing important context to the forum. The forum itself was a hybrid event with 70 people in person, and 74 people virtually including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healthcare workers, midwives, doctors, government representatives, bereaved parents, students, and researchers, indicating strong interest in the SBB throughout WA. There was a lot of positive feedback from participants, many noting they plan on incorporating their learnings into their practice. The team are looking forward to continuing to work with WA in 2023.
2022 National Safer Baby Bundle Virtual Forum
On 22nd of July 2022 the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE) hosted the second annual National Safer Baby Bundle (SBB) Virtual Forum.
The 4-hour free online event included presentations, interactive SBB element discussions sessions, and a Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR) workshop. There were 209 participants for the forum and 156 for the Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR) workshop. All Australian states and territories were well represented across the 4 hour forum. A small number also logged on from overseas- New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Participants included (but are not limited to) midwives, obstetricians, researchers, maternal fetal medicine specialists, consumer representatives, obstetric registrars, and primary healthcare managers. A lot of positive comments mentioned the value of hearing implementation experiences and initiatives from other sites. We hope to deliver more events like this in 2023.
Safer Baby Bundle's Northern Territory Launch
The Stillbirth CRE team were excited to travel to Darwin and launch Safer Baby Bundle in the Northern Territory in partnership with Northern Territory Department of Health earlier this year on the 6th of May. This hybrid event was held at the Royal Darwin Hospital and included presentations and workshops which highlighted the Safer Baby Bundle (SBB) best practice recommendations and implementation in the NT. There was 32 face-to-face, and 37 virtually, indicating significant interest in the SBB within the Northern Territory which is very promising. Participants included midwives, nurses, Aboriginal health workers, parent advocates, senior maternity executives, policymakers, and researchers. Clinicians were really excited to hear about how the Safer Baby Bundle could be implemented in indigenous communities. The Northern Territory has a new project officer who is working closely with our Safer Baby Bundle team so watch this space!
