Contributors

Debra Bick, RM, FPCert, BA(Hons), MMedSc, PhD

Professor of Midwifery and Women’s Health, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Thames Valley University, UK.

Debra has responsibility for co-ordinating and developing research across the midwifery subject group at Thames Valley. Prior to taking up her current post, she was a Senior Research and Development Fellow at the Royal College of Nursing Institute, and had responsibility for the development of national guidelines to inform nursing practice. As a Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Birmingham, Debra worked on several large studies examining the impact on women’s health of interventions during and after pregnancy. Her doctoral thesis presented data on midwife implementation of a new model of midwifery-led care and impact on women’s physical and psychological well-being at four months post partum compared with current care in a cluster randomised controlled trial. Her current research interests include postnatal health and well-being, organisation of maternity services and knowledge utilisation and transfer.

Carole Butterfield, RGN, RM, DPSM, BSc(Hons)

Midwifery Mainstream Coordinator, The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Greater Manchester, UK.

Carole qualified as a midwife in 1985 and has had a varied career, including having working clinically in a refugee camp in Thailand for 2 years, and developed a teaching programme for lay midwives. For many years she was a community midwife in North Manchester and was involved in a Trailblazer Sure Start programme. Her current role involves working with colleagues to mainstream the principles of Sure Start and develop a public health approach within midwifery for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. Carole is also a part-time lecturer/practitioner at the University of Manchester.

Cindy Carlson, BA, MPH, PGCertEdTHE, MFPH(Hon)

Health Specialist, DFID Health Resource Centre, London, UK.

Cindy works as a public health specialist for the UK Department for International Development’s Health Resource Centre, based at the Institute for Health Sector Development in London. She has 23 years of public health experience, focusing primarily on maternal/child health and sexual health programmes. Prior to joining the resource centre Cindy worked with the Public Health Resource Unit in Oxford as Director of Learning and Development, while also undertaking specific public health-related projects. She also designed, developed and led the MSc in Public Health at Oxford Brookes University for a number of years. Cindy’s main areas of work now are in researching and developing public health topics to help inform DFID policy and practice, as well as supporting a range of other international development-related work done within the resource centre.

Claire Chambers, MSc, PGDip(Prof)Ed, HV(Dip), CPT, RGN

Principal Lecturer in Health Visiting, School of Health and Social Care, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.

Claire leads the Public Health Nursing/Health Visiting Programme at Oxford Brookes University. She has a particular interest in diversity issues and encouraging students to increase their knowledge and develop their practice by understanding how individuals, groups and communities can be disadvantaged in life. Health professionals can then be proactive in empowering individuals and communities to make positive life changes when possible and to enable them to receive appropriate and accessible care in professional practice.

Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, MSc ADM, PGCEA, RM, RGN, MRIPH

Counsellor in Rape and Sexual Assault; Consultant Midwife Public Health, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK.

Jacqueline has been a Consultant Midwife since September 2001. She teaches at Kings College, London University, and runs a specialist consultant midwives community clinic. Referrals to the clinic include women who have had a traumatic childbirth experience, survivors of rape and sexual assault, women who have experienced domestic violence, women who have a fear of childbirth and women who request caesarean section. A major part of her work is focused toward collaboration with the primary care sector, community organisations and social service colleagues to improve areas of inequality in health and health care provision. She previously worked as senior lecturer in midwifery for ten years.

Maralyn Foureur, RM, RGON, BA, Grad Dip Clin Epidem, PhD, FACMI

Clinical Professor, Midwifery and Women’s Health, Graduate School of Nursing and Midwifery, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Maralyn has a joint appointment with Victoria University and Capital and Coast District Health Board in Wellington. She is also Director of the Collaborating Centre for Midwifery and Nursing Education, Practice and Research, a joint venture between the university and the district health board. The Centre facilitates programmes of education and research to improve practice and health care outcomes. Her main interests are in the organisation of maternity services, evidence-based practice, the birth environment and the physiology of birth and breastfeeding. Her PhD was a randomised controlled trial of continuity of midwifery care.

Jill Gullidge, BSc(Hons), RM, RN

Community Midwife, Peterborough Maternity Hospital, UK.

Jill has a variety of clinical experience, having worked as a Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife. She studied fertility treatment and previously was employed as a Fertility Nurse Specialist. She then undertook her midwifery training and graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a First Class honours degree. Jill now works as a Community Midwife, employed through Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Trust. She is responsible for the care of a large caseload of women within the city centre.

Caroline Homer, RM, RN, MN, PhD

Midwifery Consultant: Practice Development, Division of Women’s and Children’s Health, St George Hospital, Kogarah, Australia.

Caroline’s current role incorporates research, teaching, leadership and clinical practice in the public hospital setting in New South Wales, Australia. Her practice and research interests include the development and evaluation of new models of midwifery care, the translation of research into clinical practice and, more recently, the experience and outcomes of women with hypertension in pregnancy. She is also involved in teaching through the University of Technology Sydney and the University of New South Wales. She works as a consultant for Health Departments in NSW and in Samoa and works in partnership with two other midwives providing care for a small caseload of women through the St George Hospital’s Birth Centre.

Tina Miller, BA(Hons), MSc, PhD

Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences and Law, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.

Tina’s research and teaching interests include mothering and caring responsibilities, health and illness experiences, narrative and qualitative research methods. Her recent publications include an edited collection Ethics in Qualitative Research (with Melanie Mauthner, Maxine Birch and Julie Jessop; Sage, 2002), Shifting Perceptions of Expert Knowledge: Transition to Motherhood (Human Fertility, 2003) and Losing the Plot: Narrative construction and Longitudinal Childbirth Research (Qualitative Health Research, 2000). Most recently she has completed a sole authored book, Making Sense of Motherhood: A Narrative Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2005). Tina is also a member of the Women’s Workshop on Qualitative Household/Family Research.

Pádraig Ó Lúanaigh, MSc(Psych), BSc(Hons), RGN, RM, RHV, DipHE(Mid), AdvDipED, PGDE

Dean, Faculty of Health and Science, Western Institute of Technology, New Plymouth, New Zealand.

Pádraig has a broad clinical background, having practised as a registered nurse, midwife and health visitor. He has previously worked with midwifery students as a lecturer and as head of a midwifery department. Having practised in a variety of areas in the UK, he is now living and working in New Zealand. Pádraig is currently completing a Doctorate in Education exploring the measurement and assessment of clinical competence.

Stephen Peckham, BSc(Hons), MA(Econ), Hon FFPHM

Head of Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences and Law, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.

Stephen is Reader in Health Policy and a Head of Department. He has been involved in health and social policy research and teaching for 12 years and previously worked in the voluntary and local government sectors. He is course director for the MA in Social Policy and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules in social policy, health policy and policy process and evaluation. His main research interests are in health policy analysis, inter-agency collaboration, primary care, public health and public involvement. He is currently working on two research projects: one is examining the links between community organisations and primary care on public health issues and the other concerns carers and primary care. Stephen is particularly interested in promoting a broader model of health and examining...