CenteringPregnancy®
UTS Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health awarded Telstra Foundation Community Development Grant
Caroline Homer and Nicky Leap from the Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health been awarded funding from the Telstra Foundation (opens an external site) for a two year pilot study to develop, implement and test the innovative program CenteringPregnancy® in the South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service (SESIAHS), Australia.
CenteringPregnancy® is an innovative program providing support, antenatal assessment and education for pregnant women in small groups. It is seen as a new way of building a sense of community and developing new networks for women. Studies of CenteringPregnancy® in the USA have demonstrated an improvement in the rates of social isolation, prematurity and babies with low birth weights.
The pilot project will be the first time that this innovative way of delivering antenatal care has been implemented and evaluated in Australia. One of the aims of the pilot is to determine the feasibility of undertaking a larger trial of the CenteringPregnancy® program. If successful, the study will have significant implications for the way care is provided through pregnancy, especially for women from disadvantaged or vulnerable groups. The program has potential benefits for women, families and children and provides an exciting opportunity to provide antenatal care and support in a new way.
The founder and the Executive Director of the Centering Healthcare Institute (opens an external site), Sharon Schindler Rising visited Sydney to speak on its benefits and help pilot the program in Australia.
The CenteringPregnancy® pilot study report is to be released in early 2008. Two successful seminars evolved from the pilot study, these were the Innovations in Antenatal Care and Support on 26 April 2006 and the Positive Birthing on 29th November 2007.
As part of the CenteringPregnancy® pilot study the Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health has developed a range of consultancies and workshops to assist with contemporary developments in antenatal care provision in both rural and urban settings.
- CenteringPregnancy® - Information Package (pdf, 32kb)
The first two workshops in 2008 will be at UTS on 6 and 7 March 2008. One of these first workshops will provide an update in the skills and knowledge for antenatal care provision and the second will be an introduction to the CenteringPregnancy® model of care.
The Centre has developed links with the Centering Healthcare Institute in USA. Information on how to register as an Australian CenteringPregnancy® site will be available on this website shortly.
Articles about CenteringPregnancy®
Creating a community of care for pregnant women
Pioneer program to create a community of care for pregnant women
