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Jo-Anne Rayner

BNsg, GradDipWmsHlth, MWmHlth, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Team Investigator COMPASS
 
Email: j.rayner@latrobe.edu.au
Telephone: +61 3 8341 8581
 

Jo has worked in academia for 18 years and has a long-standing interest in women’s health. Since joining MCHR in 2000 Jo has been a research team member of the Tall Girls Study, and project co-ordinator of the Early Births and PinC studies. Her PhD research involved an exploration of depression among the Tall Girls study cohort and since completing this Jo has lead a research program with colleagues looking at women’s use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to enhance fertility. In 2010 Jo organized and facilitated a one-day forum bringing together public health researchers, CAM practitioners and clinicians interested in women’s use of CAM in reproductive health. The outcomes of this include the establishment of a reproductive health special interest group of NORPHCAM (Network Of Researchers in the Public Health of Complementary and Alternative Health) and research collaborations for nationally competitive grants.
 
MAJOR RESEARCH INTERESTS

Women’s health and the role of gender as a health determinant, in particular mental health and reproductive health as understood through women’s experiences; and qualitative research methods
 
CURRENT PROJECTS
 

Women’s use of online social networking to keep informed about the use of complementary medicines for fertility enhancement

Team:

Jo Rayner, Karen Willis (Tas), Rachel Thorpe
Funding: La Trobe University Faculty Health Sciences Grant 2010
Status:

Ethics application submitted

The use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in residential aged-care facilities (RACs)

Team:

Michael Bauer, Jo Rayner, Susan Koch
Funding: La Trobe University Faculty Health Sciences Grant 2009
Status:

Study complete. Focus groups discussions and interviews with residents, staff manager and visiting doctors on the use complementary medicines. Analysis underway. One peer-reviewed publication under review.

Description of Snoezelen therapy for managing dementia behaviours in Victoria

Team:

Michael Bauer, Jo Rayner, Susan Koch
Funding: The J.O. & J.R Wicking Trust 2008
Status:

Study complete. Phase 1:  CATI survey of use of multi-sensory therapies in dementia care in Victorian residential aged-care facilities. Phase 2: Comparison of Snoezelen (multi-sensory therapies) and standard care for dementia related behaviours. Analysis complete and tow papers drafted.
 
RECENTLY COMPLETED PROJECTS
 

What motivates general practitioners (GPs) working in integrated medical practices to use complementary medicines (CM) as treatment modalities?

Team:

Jo Rayner, Karen Willis (Tas), Marie Pirotta (Melb)
Funding: La Trobe University Faculty Health Sciences Faculty Grant 2009
Status:

Study complete. Interviews conducted with 23 integrative general practitioners (GPs) from Victoria and Tasmania. Results were presented at Australian Integrative Medical Association (AIMA) conference and the Network of Researchers in the Public Health of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NORPHCAM) inaugural conference both in October 2009 and first peer-reviewed paper under review.

FAM: Fertility and Alternative Medicine
Exploring women’s use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) to enhance their fertility

Team:

Jo Rayner, Della Forster, Helen McLachlan, Marie Pirotta (Melb), Michelle Kealy, Rhian Cramer
Funding: Unfunded
Status:

Study complete. Three focus groups with CAM practitioners and the women they consult for fertility enhancement undertaken by Master of Midwifery student Rhian Cramer, supervised by Jo Rayner and Helen McLachlan; analysis complete and thesis passed 2010; presentation at PZANZ April 2008; and one peer-reviewed publication.

The views, experiences and referral patterns of Victorian IVF specialists regarding fertility enhancement by complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Team:

Jo Rayner, Della Forster, Helen McLachlan, Michelle Kealy, Marie Pirotta (Melb)
Funding: La Trobe University Faculty Health Sciences Faculty Grant 2008
Status:

Study complete. Postal survey of Victorian medical practitioners registered with Infertility treatment Authority. One peer-reviewed publication.

Cosmetic Endocrinology: (re) constructing femininity in ‘tall’ girls

Aim: An exploration of depression in adulthood within the social context of treating tall stature in Australian adolescent girls over three decades
Team:

Jo Rayner. Supervisors: Professor Judith Lumley, Dr Priscilla Pyett, Professor Jill Astbury, Associate Professor Alison Venn
Funding: NHMRC Public Health PhD Scholarship 2005-2007
Status:

Study complete. PhD Thesis awarded 2010. One peer-reviewed publication and second drafted.

PinC Private: A review of postnatal care in Victorian Private hospitals

Team:

Jo Rayner, Della Forster, Helen McLachlan, Jane Yelland, Louise Peters
Funding: MCHR and Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University
Status:

Study completed and Masters of Midwifery awarded (LP) 2009. One peer-reviewed publication and second drafted.
 
 
PUBLICATIONS (Selected)

Rayner J, Willis K, Burgess R. Women’s use of complementary and alternative medicine for fertility enhancement: A review of the literature. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2010 In Press (publication July 2011) (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 1.68)


Davey MA, Watson L, Rayner J, Rowlands S. Risk scoring systems for predicting preterm birth with the aim of reducing associated adverse outcomes (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 9. Art. No.: CD004902. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004902.pub3. (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 5.65)

Rayner J, Pyett P, Astbury J. The medicalisation of ‘tall’ girls: A discourse analysis of medical literature on the use of synthetic oestrogens to reduce female height. Social Science & Medicine 2010; 71: 1076-1083 (ERA Ranking A*, Impact Factor 2.71)

Rayner J, McLachlan H, Forster D, Peters L, Yelland J. A statewide review of postnatal care in private hospitals in Victoria, Australia. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2010; 10:26. (ERA Ranking C; Impact Factor 1.72)

Rayner J, Forster D, McLachlan H, Kealy M, Pirotta M. Women’s use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CM) to enhance fertility: the views of fertility specialists in Victoria, Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 2010; 50(3):305 (ERA Ranking C; Impact Factor 1.31)

Watson L, Rayner J, King J, Jolley D, Forster D, Lumley J. Modelling prior reproductive history to improved prediction of risk for very preterm birth. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2010; 24, 402–415 (ERA Ranking B; Impact Factor 1.79)

Watson L, Rayner J, King J, Jolley D, Forster D, Lumley J. Modelling sequence of prior pregnancies on subsequent risk for very preterm birth. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2010; 24:416-423 (ERA Ranking B; Impact Factor 1.79)

Rayner J, McLachlan H, Forster D, Cramer R. Australian women's use of complementary and alternative medicines (CM) to enhance fertility: exploring the experiences of women and practitioners. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2009. 9:52 (ERA Ranking C; Impact Factor 1.94)

McLachlan HL, Gold L, Forster DA, Yelland J, Rayner J, Rayner S. Women's views of postnatal care in the context of the increasing pressure on postnatal beds in Australia. Women & Birth, 2009; 22:128-133 (ERA Ranking B)

Forster DA, McLachlan HL, 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;8:27 (ERA Ranking C; Impact Factor 1.72)

Venn A, Hosmer T, Hosmer D, Bruinsma F, Jones P, Lumley J, Pyett P, Rayner J, Werther G. Estrogen treatment for tall stature in girls: estimating the effect on height and the error in height prediction. Clinical Endocrinology, 2008;68:926-929 (ERA Ranking A; Impact Factor 3.20)

Watson L, Lumley J, Rayner J. Potter A. Recruitment to research studies in maternity hospitals: An example from the Early Births Study. Midwifery, 2008, 24 (4):509-520 (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 1.16)

McLachlan H, Forster DA, Yelland J, Rayner J, Lumley J. Is the organisation and structure of hospital postnatal care a barrier to quality care? Findings from a State-wide review in Victoria, Australia. Midwifery, 2008, 24:358-370 (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 1.16)

Rayner J, Forster D, McLachlan H, Yelland J, Davey M-A. A state-wide review of postnatal care in Victoria, Australia: The views and experiences of midwives? Findings from a state-wide review of hospital postnatal care in Victoria, Australia. Midwifery, 2008; 24(3):310-320 (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 1.16)

Watson LF, Rayner J-A, Lumley JM. Hospital Research and Ethics approval for a population-based case-control study of very preterm birth. Australian Health Review, 2007; 31:514-522 (ERA Ranking C; Impact Factor 0.58)

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, 2007; 23: 287-297 (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 1.16)

Watson L, Lumley J, Rayner J, Potter A. Research interviewers’ experience in the Early Births study of very preterm birth: qualitative assessment of data collection processes in a case-control study. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 2006; 21(1): 87-94. (ERA Ranking B; Impact Factor 1.79)

Forster DA, McLachlan HL, Yelland J, Rayner J, Lumley J, Davey M-A. Staffing in postnatal units: is it adequate for the provision of quality care? Staff perspectives from a state-wide review of postnatal care in Victoria, Australia. BMC Health Services Research, 2006; 6:83 (ERA Ranking B; Impact Factor 1.66)

Bruinsma F, Venn A, Patton G, Rayner J, Pyett P, Werther G, Jones P, Lumley J. Concern about tall stature during adolescence and depression in later life. Journal of Affective Disorders, 2006; 91: 145-152 (ERA Ranking A; Impact Factor 3.76)

Venn A, Bruinsma F, Werther G, Pyett P, Baird D, Jones P, Rayner J, Lumley J. Estrogen treatment in adolescence for tall stature reduced fertility and fecundity in later life. Evidence-based Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2005; 7(3): 141-142

Pyett P, Rayner J, Venn A, Bruinsma F, Jones P, Werther G, Lumley J, Drop SLS. Using hormone treatment to reduce the adult height of tall girls: are women satisfied with the decision in later years? Social Science and Medicine, 2005, 61:1629-1639 (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 2.71)

Darcy MA, Watson L, Rayner JA, Rowlands S. Risk scoring systems for predicting preterm birth with the aim of reducing associated adverse outcomes (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2004, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD004902. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004902 (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 5.65)

Venn A, Bruinsma F, Werther G, Pyett P, Baird, D, Jones P, Rayner J, Lumley J. The use of estrogen treatment to reduce the adult height of tall girls: long-term effects on fertility. Lancet, 2004; 364:1513-1518 (ERA Ranking A*; Impact Factor 30.75)
 
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Content Approved by: Director, Mother and Child Health Research
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Last Updated: August 15, 2011