The RADIANT Study

Written by members of our Lived Experience Expert Group, with Chief Investigator Dr Bec Jenkinson, and published in the world leading midwifery journal, Women and Birth, this discussion paper documents consumer concerns that the current weight-centric approach to maternity care is creating unintended harm for pregnant, birthing and postnatal women. As a group, the authors have lived experience of hospital birth and homebirth, continuity of care and fragmented care models, waterbirth, induction of labour, caesarean birth, pregnancy loss and stillbirth. They share the common, unwelcome experience of weight stigma in maternity care, which remains one of the few unchallenged sources of bias and discrimination both in society generally and healthcare more specifically. In this article, the authors weave their lived experiences into a call for change in maternity care.