Translating informed consent in Scottish maternity services

Project Description

This project examines informed consent during pregnancy, labour and birth in the case of parents with limited English-proficiency (LEP) in Scotland (e.g. refugees and asylum seekers who have recently arrived at the country). It is often difficult for LEP parents to access adequate information in their own languages during perinatal care and this greatly contributes to poor maternal outcomes. The main objective of the project is to understand informed consent from an interdisciplinary perspective of midwifery and translation & interpreting studies. Through a series of expert focus groups and interactive workshops with researchers and practitioners, the project intends to create an environment where the concept of informed consent in multilingual and multicultural settings in Scottish maternity services can be viewed through fresh eyes. The findings of the project will be disseminated through a colloquium, international peer-reviewed publications and impact events aimed at midwives and interpreters.
The project will bring together expertise from two different disciplines and two Scottish universities (PI from translation studies at the University of Edinburgh and and Co-I from midwifery at Edinburgh Napier University). Through innovative approaches (interactive workshops) it will bring diverse participants together (midwifery and translation studies researchers, healthcare providers, and interpreters) for the first time not only in Scotland, but also, to our knowledge, in the world. Therefore, even though the findings of the project will directly and primarily address Scottish maternity services, it will certainly have worldwide implications and will form the basis for a much wider study on the subject, paving the way to larger projects in medical/health humanities.