Evaluating pregnancy interventions within maternity hospital settings: a health equity approach

Pregnancy is a high risk window for accelerated weight gain and adverse lifestyle behaviours, leading to increased risk of complications. Women from culturally and diverse backgrounds experience greater health inequity and are therefore at greater risk. Simple lifestyle interventions can prevent weight gain and related complications whilst improving modifiable lifestyle behaviours for improved maternal and infant health, however it is not well understood how women from diverse backgrounds benefit from such interventions. Here, the candidate will implement a lifestyle intervention to optimise healthy weight during pregnancy within a large health system. Outcomes will include understanding current practice in maternity care, engaging stakeholder to identify needs, barriers and facilitators to change, adapting an evidence based weight gain prevention program and conducting implementation research to test effectiveness. You should ideally have a background in health broadly with an interest in women’s health, particularly pregnancy care, health service delivery and models of care and provision of culturally appropriate care. Your research will be part of a large collaborative project between Monash University and Monash Health. You will work closely with team members from multiple departments of these organisations and work within the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI). MCHRI is a division of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine - the largest School in Australia and is located within the Monash Health Translation Precinct (MHTP) –an innovative environment directly integrated with Monash Health – Victoria’s largest healthcare service, providing access to clinical research opportunities. MCHRI and its program leaders have internationally recognised reputations as research leaders. The education of our PhD students is a core element of our training program. We aim to graduate students who are competitive for an ongoing academic career, usually integrated within a public hospital or other clinical, public health or translation role.