Improving the Engagement and Participation of Multicultural Women in Perinatal Clinical Trials

Reducing the stillbirth rate is a national health priority. Sadly, in Australia, 6 babies are stillborn every day, amounting to 2000 stillbirths every year. Even more devastating, is that 1 in 3 of these are considered preventable with better care. Large disparities exist regarding who experiences stillbirth with women from some migrant backgrounds sadly experiencing stillbirth at the end of pregnancy at up to twice the rate of locally born women. There is currently a lack of high level trial evidence to inform interventions to reduce stillbirth in migrant women resulting in significant practice variation. nterventions that target minority populations have the potential to be discriminatory. Discrimination in maternity care increases the risk of stillbirth and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. Previous attempts to create clinical guidance to reduce stillbirth in migrant and refugee women have been criticised for being racist and lacking evidence. There is an urgent need to generate the evidence needed to ensure that the care currently offered to migrant women in Australia is efficacious, does not cause unintended harm and is culturally appropriate and meets their needs and expectations of care. The inclusion of migrant and refugee populations in research however is a recognised challenge. There is little evidence to guide what practical strategies are needed to address this. In this project you would work with partner organisations and multicultrual community members to co-design, implement and evaluate resources and trial staff education to support the recruitment of diverse populations perinatal clinical trials and develop a framework for future perinatal trialists.