Midwives Scope of Practice Study

Why have I been asked to participate in this study?

You have been identified as a potential participant because you work in midwifery

Do I have to say yes?

You don’t have to say yes.

What will happen if I say no?

Nothing. We thank you for your time so far and won’t contact you about this project again.

Who is doing the research?

This research is being undertaken by Burnet Institute together with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and ICM.
Dr Sarah Bar-Zeev, Dr Sabera Turkmani, Kara Blackburn and Professor Caroline Homer from the Global Women’s and Newborn Health Working Group at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne will lead this work. They all both have extensive experience working in midwifery and maternal and newborn health research and development in international settings.

What is this research about?

The purpose of this project is to better understand the policy barriers and enablers to midwives working within their full scope of practice.

If I say yes, what will it involve?

We will invite you to complete an anonymous, online survey using the REDCap platform.
The data will be stored securely and will be deleted within 7 years of completion of the study. Only the study investigators will ever have access to the data.
The findings will be shared through a webinar, conferences and published as a series of papers in peer reviewed journals. We will provide links to the findings on social media.
If you decide to withdraw from the study, you do not need to provide any reason for this.

Are there any risks/inconvenience?

There are no risks involved in completing this survey.
The data collected through this research will be used solely for the purposes of this study and will be available to core members of the research team in an anonymized form so you can be confident that your information will not be disclosed, and your privacy will be protected.
Any published results will not contain any identifiable information. Many journals now require researchers to make the raw anonymized data underlying the findings described in their manuscript available to the journal and/or other researchers. Where required by scholarly journals, de-identified data underlying the study’s findings may be shared. In such cases, all personal identifiers will be removed to protect participants’ privacy as per ethical guidelines.

If I say yes, can I change my mind later?

You can change your mind at any time, and you don’t have to say why. If you wish to withdraw from the study, please send an email to Dr Sarah Bar-Zeev ([email protected]) and she will withdraw you from the study. All your data will be destroyed and will not be used. You will be thanked for your time so far and you won’t be contacted about this research again.

What if I have concerns or a complaint?

The ethical aspects of this research project have been approved by the Alfred Hospital Ethics Committee in Melbourne, Australia.
If you have concerns about the research, please feel free to contact Dr Sarah Bar-Zeev.