Public and political awareness of pregnancy loss
Bridging the gap between pregnancy loss research and policy and practice: insights from a qualitative survey with knowledge users
Bridging the gap between pregnancy loss research and policy and practice requires ending the silence, stigma and inequality around pregnancy loss, and using a range of tailored, accessible approaches to engage a large, diverse range of knowledge users
- Authors
Marita Hennessy, Keelin O'Donoghue
- Year
- 2024
- Journal Name
- Health Research Policy and Systems
- Category
- Journal Article
- Keywords
- Awareness / Knowledge, Early pregnancy / Early pregnancy loss, Ectopic pregnancy, Fatal fetal anomaly, Miscarriage, Molar pregnancy / Gestational Trophoblastic Disease, Pregnancy loss, Stillbirth
- Project
- Full Citation
Hennessy M, O'Donoghue K. Bridging the gap between pregnancy loss research and policy and practice: Insights from a qualitative survey with knowledge users. Health Research Policy and Systems. 2024;22(15):1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-024-01103-z.
- Link to Publication
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-024-01103-z
Abstract
There are gaps between what we know from pregnancy loss research about how to improve service provision, lived experiences and outcomes, and what happens in practice and policy. In 2022, we conducted a qualitative online survey of pregnancy loss research knowledge users in Ireland to better understand the factors that influence the translation of pregnancy loss research into practice and policy. We included data from 46 participants in our analysis, from which we generated two central themes. The first—‘End the silence; stigma and inequality around pregnancy loss to enhance awareness and understanding, public health and services and supports’—addresses issues related to the stigma, sensitivities and silence, lack of awareness and understanding, and lack of relevance or priority afforded to pregnancy loss. The second theme—‘Use a range of tailored, accessible approaches to engage a large, diverse range of knowledge users’—highlights the need to use relevant, accessible, and engaging information, resources or materials in knowledge translation efforts, and a variety of tailored approaches to suit different audiences, including materials, workshops/webinars, media, knowledge brokers and champions or opinion leaders. We identified key strategies that can be used to inform knowledge translation planning in Ireland, and which have international applicability.