Research explores maternity care throughout pandemic

INFANT Research Center researchers conduct a global study to find out parents' experiences with maternity care during a pandemic

Dr. Keelin O'Donoghue

The Irish Center for Maternal and Child Health (INFANT) research center at University College Cork (UCC) is set to work with global partners on a new online survey to determine how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected parents who have given birth or had a miscarriage, stillbirth, or newborn death during the outbreak.

Ongoing Treatment of the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Global Survey of New and Expectant Parenting Experiences (COCOON) is being conducted by researchers from the Research Group on Pregnancy Loss, INFANT Research Center, UCC, in collaboration with the Center for Research Excellence in Stillbirth. Australia and researchers from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain and the United States of America, among others.

The comprehensive online survey seeks to understand the psychosocial experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic among parents who gave birth, or the experiences of parents who had a miscarriage, stillbirth, or newborn death during this outbreak.

Dr. Keelin O'Donoghue, Dr. Margaret Murphyand the Pregnancy Loss Research Group team at INFANT Research Center are leading researchers in the field of pregnancy loss and perinatal death.

“Pregnancy loss is a difficult and painful experience at any time. This is one of the few studies in the world that has examined the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the experiences of survivors after the end of pregnancy or the death of a baby, "said Dr. O'Donoghue.

"We need to understand the new challenges and concerns these parents face in order to improve care in all of our maternity wards."

The INFANT Research Center is Ireland's first translational research center exclusively dedicated to pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood.

valerie.ryan@imt.ie