Hearing Both Sides of the Story

Interactive workshops exploring the interaction between women and midwives

Jennifer Patterson (School of Health and Social Care) used participatory arts to engage with groups of midwives and women as part of her PhD research in 2018.

What did you do?

I worked with interactive forum theatre company Active Inquiry to create two workshops based on the findings of my PhD research that explores the lived experience of the midwife/woman interaction from the perspective of women who have developed PTSD post childbirth and midwives. One workshop engaged women and one engaged midwives. 

Why did you do it?

I wanted to widen the engagement of this topic to more women and midwives beyond my research participants. It was important to gain a sense of whether my findings were consistent with wider thinking, but also to identify if there were any other key areas that emerged. I also wanted to enable a wider audience to suggest potential ways forward in improving the experience of this interaction.

What went well?

The theatre group were fantastic and all the attendees fully participated and seemed to really engage with and enjoy the process. While some moments of the workshop were emotionally challenging for participants, everyone expressed that they were very pleased to have had the opportunity to participate. I had sought and received Edinburgh Napier ethics permission to film the workshops and this data will be valuable in producing further summary of findings or designing future public engagement.

The two workshops took place at the St Brides Community Centre in Edinburgh in 2018.