Refugee Women Connect have been working with the University of Oxford BEAMS project to look at how health information for new mums can be made more accessible. 

 

Read what Jen MacLellan, study lead, has to say about the project and the important lessons it has to share about making health information widely accessible and how to work effectively with people with lived experience to coproduce effective resources.

 

Find the resources for women in a range of languages here

Read the full report here

 

Better Outcomes Postnatally for Mums: Co-production with women experiencing challenges accessing healthcare

 

This work comes from the findings of a national report into why mothers’ die (MBRRACE-UK). It found women who face challenges in accessing healthcare are more at risk of not getting the right help at the right time. This can affect women’s wellbeing and health, sometimes seriously. The reasons why are complex — one piece of the puzzle is knowing when a symptom is serious that needs medical help. There is little mention in UK research literature of women knowing the warning signs of potential health complications after they've had a baby. This project set out to design and deliver accessible information resources which can be used throughout the NHS using postnatal serious symptoms as an example topic.

 

We wanted to put a spotlight on how health information is given to women who often face challenges in accessing healthcare after they have had a baby. We ran workshops across England and asked women who have experienced health inequalities to share their thoughts about:

• How best to design information — so women can hear the important health messages in their busy lives.
• Where women will best find information — so they can seek help quickly and keep themselves well.

 

To do this we worked in a co-productive way, using collage to share ideas in accessible ways, working alongside peer researchers and involving women with lots of different experiences in the research.

 

As part of this we asked women about:

• How best to alert women to get help if they have symptoms which cause the most illness and death after recently giving birth. These symptoms include things like mental distress, heart problems, clots in the lungs, infection and epilepsy. We call these red flags.
• We also asked women to map their circle of trust for health advice and their preferred methods of communication.

 

Taking this information women have written scripts and recorded voiceovers for animations, shared poems, and been involved step-by-step in the creation of resources. Women told us that having information makes them feel in control and supports self-advocacy. Seeing the real experiences of other women builds trust in the message. Women described how talking and sharing is good with continuity the key to trust building.

 

We must thank the women who kindly shared their time, including those at Refugee Women Connect, their experiences and ideas for change-making - without them, the pool of resources created would not have been possible.

 

A key take-away from the work is for health care professionals and those who support women, to reflect if you are always checking understanding of information and giving opportunities to ask questions. This is an 'always event' which supports women in looking after themselves and their babies.