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Postgraduate Fertility, Pregnancy and Development Research
Network Meeting
Thursday 23rd May, 1.45pm till 4.15pm
Funded by Cardiff University Graduate College
PROGRAMME
Laura Goodwin
An exploration of relationships in maternity care; a focus on migration and author
experience
Ethnic minority women are over-represented in UK maternal death rates (CMACE,
2011), and infant mortality rates in the UK are twice as high for babies born to
Pakistani or Caribbean women than those born to White British women, (ONS, 2007).
Despite attempts to improve maternity care in general, little research has been
conducted on the relational issues between midwife and mother. The aim of the
current research is to explore relationships between UK midwives and migrant
Pakistani women in the South Wales region. A series of interviews and observations
will be conducted with practising UK midwives and migrant Pakistani women in UK
maternity care. Results will expand the relatively small research base considering the
factors behind inequalities in maternity outcomes in the UK, indicate ways to improve
communication and emotional support between UK midwives and ethnic minority
mothers, and could ultimately contribute to the lowering of maternal mortality in the
UK. As data collection has not yet commenced, the proposed presentation would
focus on the development of the research question in hand; evolving from a figurebased hunch to a PhD-worthy piece of research. The presentation would outline the
author’s own migration; having transferred from a career path tailored towards
forensic psychology to one which aims to reduce inequalities in maternity outcomes.
The importance and value of interdisciplinary research would also feature strongly in
the presentation, with examples from the author’s own personal experiences.
Jessica Eddy and Hugo Creeth
Does disrupted placental function lead to alterations in maternal behaviour?
During pregnancy, endocrine signalling to the mother is required to induce the
changes necessary to accommodate the metabolically demanding foetus. These
changes include stimulating forebrain neurogenesis in the maternal brain and altering
behaviour. Key factors in this process are the prolactins and closely related placental
lactogens. This research examines whether aberrant signalling from the placenta to
the mother underlies mood disorders such as maternal depression and puerperal
psychosis. Using animal models we can specifically look at maternal brain gene
expression, biochemistry and mothering behaviour in female mice carrying pups with
altered imprinted gene expression. Imprinted genes are subject to highly regulated
epigenetic modification and are known have important roles in regulating foetal
growth and placental function in mice and humans. We are specifically looking at
Phlda2 a maternally expressed imprinted gene associated with placental growth and
development. Using this gene and existing mouse models with known placental
phenotypes, we can begin to address the role of placental programming of the
maternal brain and its role in behaviour.
Laura Bunting
FertiSTAT empowering people to optimize their fertility potential: Informed decisionmaking about fertility health issues
Despite a near universal desire for parenthood many women do not behave optimally
when it comes to protecting their fertility (e.g., increase in exposure to fertility
compromising risks). It is clear that more needs to be done to ensure women are
making informed-decisions regarding their parenting goals. FertiSTAT is a 22-item
self-administered, multifactorial tool that provides personalized fertility guidance
based on lifestyle and reproductive factors. FertiSTAT provides foundational work for
public health campaigns to increase personal fertility awareness that could enable
women to make informed-decisions concerning their parenting plans.