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The Faculty
The University
 
 
 
Professor Della Forster
RN, RM, DipAppSci (Nurs), BHealthSci (Nurs), MMid, PhD

Senior Research Fellow

 
Email: d.forster@latrobe.edu.au
Telephone: +61 3 8341 8573
 

Della has been a midwife since 1989. She joined MCHR in April 1999 as joint project coordinator of the ABFAB breastfeeding trial. Della completed her PhD in March 2005 using data from ABFAB. She was a joint Chief Investigator of the Statewide review of public in-hospital postnatal care (PinC) and is currently a Chief Investigator on the NHMRC-funded randomised controlled trial of caseload midwifery.  She also works half time as a Midwifery Consultant to The Royal Women’s Hospital.

 
MAJOR RESEARCH INTERESTS

Current research interests: models of maternity care, breastfeeding (particularly trials), postnatal care, and herbal and vitamin supplement use in the perinatal period.

 
CURRENT PROJECTS
 

SILC: Supporting breastfeeding In Local Communities – a cluster randomised trial (ACTRN12611000898954)

Team: Helen McLachlan, Lisa Amir, Della Forster, Rhonda Small, Meabh Cullinane, Touran Shafiei
Funding: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
Status: Ethics approvals sought, project development in progress
 
LaCE: Labour Companion Evaluation – a feasibility study for a randomised trial
Team:

Rhonda Small, Della Forster, Touran Shafiei and Tanya Farell

Funding: Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University Research Grant
Status:

Ethics approvals sought

 

Evaluation of Victorian Homebirthing Pilots

Team:

Associate Professor Helen McLachlan, Dr Della Forster, Professor Rhonda Small, Dr Mary-Ann Davey, Dr Fiona Cullinane, Dr Arthur Hseuh, Ms Michelle Newton, Dr Heather McKay

Funding: Victorian Department of Health
Status:

Data collection

 

Caseload midwifery for women at low risk of medical complications: a randomised controlled trial (COSMOS)

Team:

Dr Helen McLachlan, Dr Della Forster, Ms Mary-Anne Davey, Prof Judith Lumley, Ms Tanya Farrell, Prof Jeremy Oats, Ms Lisa Gold, Prof Ulla Waldenstrom, Prof Leah Albers. Project coordinator: Maggie Flood. PhD student: Michelle Newton

Funding: NHMRC
Status:

Data analysis

 

An alternative approach to postnatal care: a pilot study (PinC Program)

Team: Della Forster, Helen McLachlan, Tanya Farrell, Tracey Savage, Lisa Gold, Jane Yelland
Funding: RWH Foundation, Faculty of Health Sciences  (La Trobe University ), Department of Human Services Victoria
Status: Analysis complete, papers in preparation
 

PinC Documents: a study exploring the documentation used in postnatal units in Victoria

Team: Della Forster, Helen McLachlan, Tracey Savage, Jo Rayner
Funding:

Unfunded Masters project

Status: Project complete, minor thesis submitted (T Savage), papers in preparation
 

WAVE. Women’s and staff views: an evaluation of maternity care at Barwon Health

Team:

Helen McLachlan, Della Forster, Mary-Ann Davey, Therese Cotter, Jenny Kelly. PhD students: Jane Morrow and Michelle Newton

Funding:

Department of Human Services Victoria and Barwon Health

Status:

Data analysis

 

A review of home-based postnatal care in Victoria

Team:

Helen McLachlan, Della Forster, Heather McKay, Rachael Ford, Harriet Morton in collaboration with Tanya Farrell and Jen Hocking. The Royal Women’s Hospital

Funding:

Faculty of Health Sciences research grant, 2008

Status:

Data collection

 

Evaluating women’s views of postnatal care using s before and after design

Team: Della Forster, Helen McLachlan, Rachael Ford and Michelle Newton in collaboration with Fiona McLardie-Hore and Tanya Farrell, the Royal Women’s Hospital. Master’s student: Heather Grimes
Funding:

Faculty of Health Sciences research grant, 2010

Status: Data collection
 

Women's attitudes and experiences of breastfeeding. Does maternal weight make a difference?

Team:

Lisa Amir, Della Forster, Kate Stern, Jo-Anne Rayner

Funding:

La Trobe Research Grants Scheme

Status: Focus groups and in-depth interviews in progress
 

MILC: Mothers and Infants Lactation Cohort study

Team:

Della Forster, Lisa Amir, Helen McLachlan, Anita Moorhead, Helene Johns, Kerri McEgan, Chris Scott, Rachael Ford

Funding:

Faculty grant, PhD scholarship

Status: Recruitment and data collection
 

Diabetes and Antenatal Milk Expressing (DAME): A randomised controlled trial

Team:

Della Forster, Susan Jacobs, Lisa Amir, Peter Davis, Susan Walker, Kerri McEgan, Gillian Opie

Funding:

NHMRC Project Grant (2011-2014)

Status: Protocol developed, seeking ethics approval
 
South Asian women’s experience of living with gestational diabetes mellitus: Attitude and barriers to management
Team:

Mridula Bandyopadhyay, Rhonda Small, Jeremy Oats, Della Forster, Amanda Aylward

Funding:

Application pending

Status: Papers in preparation
 
 
PUBLICATIONS (Selected)
 
Articles in refereed journals

McLachlan H, Forster D, Farrell T, Ford R. Addressing the midwifery workforce crisis: evaluating an employment model for undergraduate student midwives at a tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne Australia. In press. 4th December 2010. Women and Birth.

McLachlan H, Forster D, Davey MA, Lumley J, Farrell T, Oats J, Gold L, Waldenström U, Albers L, Biro M . COSMOS: COmparing Standard Maternity care with One-to-one midwifery Support: a randomised controlled trial. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2008, August 5; 8:35.

McLachlan H, Forster D, Collins R, Gunn J, Hegarty K. Identifying and supporting women with psychosocial issues during the postnatal period: evaluating an educational intervention for midwives using a before and after survey. Accepted Midwifery January 6 2010.

Forster D, McLachlan H. Women’s views and experiences of breastfeeding: positive, negative, or just good for the baby? Midwifery 2010. 26 (1):116-125.

Blandthorn J, Forster DA, Love V. Neonatal and maternal outcomes following maternal use of buprenorphine or methadone during pregnancy: findings of a retrospective audit. Women and Birth. In presss, accepted 17th July 2010.

Forster D, McLachlan H, Rayner J, Yelland J, Gold L, Rayner S. The early postnatal period: exploring women’s views, expectations and experiences of care using focus groups in Victoria, Australia. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 2008, Jul 22; 8:27.

Forster D, Denning A, Wills G, Bolger M, McCarthy E. Herbal medicine use during pregnancy in a group of Australian women. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, in press, accepted 10th June 2006

Forster D, McLachlan H, Lumley J. Factors associated with continuing to feed any breast milk at six months postpartum in a group of Australian women. International Breastfeeding Journal, in press, accepted 27 th April 2006.

Yelland J , McLachlan H, Forster D, Rayner J, Lumley J. How is maternal psychosocial health assessed and promoted in the early postnatal period? Findings from a review of hospital postnatal care in Victoria , Australia . Midwifery; In press.

McLachlan HL, Forster DA. Initial breastfeeding attitudes and practices of women born in Turkey , Vietnam and Australia after giving birth in Australia . BMC International Breastfeeding Journal 2006, 1:7 (7 April 2006).

Gunn J, Hegarty K, Nagle C, Forster D, Brown S. Lumley J. Putting woman centered care into practice: a new (ANEW) approach to psychosocial risk assessment during pregnancy. Birth (2006) 33 (1), 46-55.

Forster D, McLachlan H, Lumley J, Beanland C, Waldenström U, Amir L, and ABFAB team. Two mid-pregnancy interventions to increase the initiation and duration of breastfeeding: a randomized controlled trial. Birth 31(3):176-182 (2004).

Amir L, Forster D, McLachlan H, Lumley J. Incidence of breast abscess in lactating women: report from an Australian cohort. BJOG 111 (12): 1378-1381 (2004).

Forster D, McLachlan H, Lumley J, Beanland C, Waldenström U, Harris H, Earl D, Dyson K. Trial Protocol. ABFAB. Attachment to the breast and family attitudes to breastfeeding. The effect of breastfeeding education in the middle of pregnancy on the duration of breastfeeding: a randomised controlled trial. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 3:5 (29 August 2003) [on line] (2003).

Waldenström U, McLachlan H, Forster D, Brennecke S, Brown S. Team Midwife Care: Maternal and infant outcomes. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 41: (August) 257-268 (2001).

Waldenström U, Brown S, McLachlan H, Forster D, Brennecke S. Does team midwife care increase satisfaction with antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care? A randomized controlled trial. Birth. 27 (3): 156-167 (2000).

 
Book chapter

McLachlan H, Forster D. Chapter 20 - Infant feeding following migration: attitudes and practices of women born in Turkey and Vietnam after migration to Australia in Liamputtong, P. (Ed.) (2010). Infant Feeding Practices: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Springer: New York.

 
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Content Approved by: Director, Mother and Child Health Research
Page maintained by: Administrator
Last Updated: October 4, 2011