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The Faculty
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Dr Rhonda Small

BA (Melb) Dip Ed (La Trobe) Grad Dip Lib (RMIT) Grad Dip Epid (Melb) PhD (La Trobe)

Director and Professor

 
Email: r.small@latrobe.edu.au
Telephone: 03 8341 8542
 

Rhonda has worked at MCHR since the Centre was established in 1991 and was appointed Director in 2009. Rhonda has been involved in several programs of research over the last 20 years. Her PhD investigated maternity care experiences and postnatal health of Vietnamese, Turkish and Filipino women in Melbourne and her current research is focused on analyses of routine perinatal data investigating country of birth variations in obstetric outcomes. She is Co-Leader (with A/Prof Anita Gagnon) of the international perinatal research collaboration: ROAM - Reproductive Outcomes And Migration, working with perinatal researchers across Europe, the US and Canada. Rhonda has also been involved in the Centre’s major research program on maternal depression, ranging from descriptive studies on prevalence and women's experiences of depression, to three randomised trials of interventions to improve women's emotional wellbeing after birth. Other areas of work include being a lead investigator with COMPASS, an NHMRC capacity building grant in population health research, and a chief investigator with Angela Taft in research to improve maternal health in the context of intimate partner violence.
 
MAJOR RESEARCH INTERESTS

Research interests include: women's views and experiences of maternity care, cross-cultural issues in perinatal research and birth outcomes for immigrant and refugee women, models of maternity care, promoting normal birth, maternal depression, women's health and intimate partner violence.
 
CURRENT PROJECTS
 
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
 

Vietnamese women’s birth outcomes in Victoria, 1983-2007
Team:

Rhonda Small, Paul Agius, Mary-Ann Davey
Funding:

NHMRC Capacity Building grant (PA, M-AD)
Status:

Ongoing, accepted for oral presentation AEA Conference 2011, paper in preparation
 

Reproductive Outcomes And Migration (ROAM): an international research collaboration
Team:

Rhonda Small, Co-Leader with Anita Gagnon (McGill University, Canada), Mridula Bandyopadhyay and Mary-Ann Davey (La Trobe University, Australia), Sophie Alexander (Université Libre de Bruxelles – Belgium), Béatrice Blondell, (INSERM – France), Simone Buitendijk and Dineke Korfker, (TNO Institute – Prevention and Health - Netherlands), Marie Desmeules (Public Health Agency of Canada), Dominico DiLallo (Agency for Public Health of Rome – Italy), Birgitta Essén (Uppsala University – Sweden), Mika Gissler (Institute of Health – Finland), Richard Glazier (Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences – Canada), Sylvie Guendelman (University of California, Berkeley – US), Maureen Heaman (University of Manitoba – Canada), Anders Hjern (National Board of Health and Welfare – Sweden), Birgitta Essen (Univeristy of Uppsala, Sweden), Alison Macfarlane (City University of London – UK), Sarah McDermott (Public Health Agency Canada), Edward Ng (Statistics Canada), Carolyn Roth (University of Keele – UK), Donna Stewart (University Health Network of Toronto – Canada), Babill Stray-Pederson and Siri Vangen (University of Oslo – Norway), Marcelo Urquia (University of Toronto – Canada), Jennifer Zeitlin (INSERM – France and EURO-PERISTAT).
Funding:

 
Status:

Various ongoing research projects, five papers published

 
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
 

Evaluation of the publicly-funded home birthing pilots in Victoria
Team:

Helen McLachlan, Della Forster, Rhonda Small, Mary-Ann Davey, Fiona Cullinane, Ya-Seng (Arthur) Hsueh, Michelle Newton

Funding:

Department of Health Victoria
Status:

Evaluation underway
 

MOVE: Improving maternal and child healthcare for vulnerable mothers – a cluster randomised trial
Team:

Angela Taft, Rhonda Small, Cathy Humphreys, Kelsey Hegarty, Ruby Walter
Funding:

ARC Linkage grant
Status:

Ongoing
 

MOSAIC: Mothers' Advocates In the Community: a cluster randomised trial
Team:

Angela Taft, Rhonda Small, Kelsey Hegarty, Lyn Watson
Funding:

NHMRC project grant 2005-2007; Department of Victorian Communities - Community Support grant 2006-2008; VicHealth Public Health Fellowship (AT) 2006-2010; Telstra Community Development Fund; Victorian Community Council against Violence, Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services
Status:

Trial completed; three papers published

 
PUBLICATIONS (Selected)

Bandyopadhyay M, Small R, Davey M-A, Oats JJN, Forster D, Aylward A. Lived experiences od gestational diabetes mellitus among immigrant South Asian women in Australia. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol 2011;51:360-364.

Taft A, Small R, Hegarty K, Watson L, Gold L. Mothers' AdvocateS In the Community (MOSAIC) - non-professional mentor support to reduce intimate partner violence and depression in mothers: a cluster randomised trial in primary care. BMC Public Health 2011 Mar 23;11:178.

Shafiei T, Small R, McLachlan H. Women's views and experiences of maternity care: a study of immigrant Afghan women in Melbourne, Australia. Midwifery (Accepted 23 February 2011)

Armstrong S, Small R. The paradox of screening: Rural women’s views on screening for postnatal depression. BMC Public Health 2010;10:744.

Bandyopadhyay M, Small R, Watson L, Brown S. Life with a new baby: how do immigrant and Australian-born women’s experiences compare? Aust N Z J Public Health 2010;34:412-421.

Kealy MA, Small R, Liamputtong P. Recovery after caesarean birth: a qualitative study of women's accounts in Victoria, Australia. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2010 18;10:47.

Aghlmand S, Lameei A, Small R. A Hands-on experience of the Voice of Customer analysis in maternity care from Iran. Int J Health Care Qual Ass 2010;23:153-170

Flood M, Small R. Researching labour and birth events using health information records: methodological challenges Midwifery 2009;25:701-710.

Gagnon AJ, Zimbeck M, Zeitlin J, ROAM Collaboration: Alexander S, Blondel B, Buitendijk S, Desmeules M, Di Lallo D, Gagnon A, Gissler M, Glazier R, Heaman M, Korfker D, Macfarlane A, Ng E, Roth C, Small R, Stewart D, Stray-Pederson B, Urquia M, Vangen S, Zeitlin J, Zimbeck M. Migration to western industrialised countries and perinatal health: a systematic review. Soc Sci Med 2009;69:934-946.

Taft A, Small R, Hegarty K, Lumley J, Watson LF, Gold L. MOSAIC (MOthers' Advocates In the Community): protocol and sample description of a cluster randomised trial of mentor mother support to reduce intimate partner violence among pregnant or recent mothers. BMC Public Health 2009 May 27;9(1):159.

Brown S, Small R, Argus B, Davis PG, Krastev A. Early postnatal discharge from hospital for healthy mothers and term infants. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009; Issue 2 . Art. No.: CD002958. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD002958.

Gissler M, Alexander S, Macfarlane A, Small R, Stray-Pedersen B, Zeitlin J, Zimbeck M, Gagnon AJ. Stillbirths and infant deaths among migrants in industrialised countries. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2009;88:134-148.

Small R, Gagnon A, Gissler M, Zeitlin J, Bennis M, Glazier R, Haelterman E, Martens G, McDermott S, Urquia M, Vangen S. Somali women and their pregnancy outcomes postmigration: data from six receiving countries. BJOG 2008;115:1630-1640.

Taft A, Small R, Hoang K. Intimate partner violence in Vietnam and among Vietnamese diaspora communities in western societies: a comprehensive review. J Fam Studies 2008;14:167-182

Small R, Lumley J. Reduction of maternal depression: much remains to be done. Lancet 2007;370:1593-5.

Green J, Willis K, Hughes E, Small R, Welch N, Gibbs L, Daly J. Generating best evidence from qualitative research: the role of data analysis. Aust N Z J Public Health 2007;31:545-50.

Willis K, Daly J, Kealy M, Small R, Koutroulis G, Green J, Gibbs L, Thomas S. The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research. Aust N Z J Public Health 2007;31:438-43.

Armstrong S, Small R. Screening for postnatal depression: not a simple task. Aust N Z J Public Health 2007;31:57-61.

Small R, Lumley J, Yelland J, Brown S. The performance of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in English speaking and non-English speaking populations in Australia. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2007;42:70-78.

Daly J, Willis K, Small R, Green J, Welch N, Kealy M, Hughes E. Assessing qualitative research in health – a hierarchy of evidence-for-practice. J Clin Epidemiol 2007;60:43-49.
 
 
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Content Approved by: Director, Mother and Child Health Research
Page maintained by: Administrator
Last Updated: September 1, 2011