Dr Hazel Keedle
Dr Hazel Keedle is a Lecturer and Academic Program Advisor of the Bachelor of Midwifery and has completed her PhD in 2021 in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University. Hazel has more than two decades of experience as a clinician in nursing and midwifery, educator and researcher. Her research focusses on midwifery practice/education and women’s experience of maternity care. Hazel's work is recognised nationally and internationally, with more than 40 conference and seminar presentations including 14 as an invited speaker. Hazel has a developing publication track record as an early career researcher, with 14 peer reviewed publications and has been awarded the ACM NSW Pat Brodie research scholarship to develop a smartphone application in her PhD research. Hazel is passionate about improving support for women during pregnancy, birth and the early transition to mothering.
Session
Background: Pregnancy, birth and nurturing a newborn is a transformative rite of passage that, although challenging, should result in women who acknowledge their strength and feel capable to mother their children. Unfortunately, research identifies a third of women find their experience of pregnancy and birth to be a traumatic experience and are vulnerable to ongoing psychological issues such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Methods: In this presentation we will share how the collaborative process between a researcher and poet, using poetry inquiry, created a collection of found poems from open ended survey data. The found poems were created using the written responses from the Australian Birth Experience Study (BESt) survey which was live between March -December 2021 and had 8,804 completed responses. The poetic inquiry analysis was undertaken through reflexive poetry from the poet and through reflection by the researcher and the poems highlighted women's experiences of traumatic birth.
Findings: The poems powerfully display themes of lack of control and consent through illuminating the voices of the women who shared their traumatic birthing stories.
Discussion: The presentation will explore the process of poetry inquiry and the audience will have the opportunity to hear the poet read selected poems. This emotive experience will increase understanding and raise awareness in the audience and wider community on the ongoing impact of experiencing birth trauma.
Recording link: https://acspri-org-au.zoom.us/rec/share/hkc5yM1BIR2y-mm1UPVeeHVyAlDgr-uJebIZ_CUn6oTidH3tS2Kkl0RwzrX4dQmv.jKTgQbhWB-n9tpLD?startTime=1669168931000