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Rhonda's picture      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: +61 3 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      
Improving maternal and child health nurse care for vulnerable mothers (MOVE)
Team: Angela Taft and Rhonda Small; Cathy Humphreys and Kelsey Hegarty,The University of Melbourne; Leesa Hooker
Funding: ARC Linkage Project 2008-2011
Status: MOVE logoImplementation and survey data collection complete; interviews with stakeholders and survey data analysis under way
   
 
Evaluation of Victorian Homebirthing Pilots
Team: Helen McLachlan, Della Forster, Rhonda Small, Mary-Ann Davey, Ya-Seng (Arthur) Hsueh, Michelle Newton, Heather McKay and Felicity Lawton in collaboration with Fiona Cullinane, the Royal Women's Hospital; Colleen White, Southern Health; and Susan Gannon, Western Health
Funding: Victorian Department of Health
Status: Confidential report submitted June 2012
   
 
Supporting breastfeeding In Local Communities (SILC project)
Team: Helen McLachlan, Della Forster, Lisa Amir, Rhonda Small, Méabh Cullinane, Healther McKay and Touran Shafiei
Funding: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2011–2014
Status: SILC logoEthics approvals obtained, project in progress
   
 
LaCE – Labour Companion Evaluation: Developmental work for a randomised trial
Team: Della Forster, Rhonda Small, Touran Shafiei; Tanya Farrell, Royal Women's Hospital
Funding: Faculty of Health Sciences Research Grant 2011
Status: focus groups and interviews with hospital staff completed; over 140 interviews with women also completed
   
 
Obstetric outcomes for immigrant women
Team: Rhonda Small, Mary-Ann Davey and Paul Agius, in collaboration with the Victorian Perinatal Data Collection Unit
Funding: none
Status: paper in preparation
   
 
South Asian Women's experiences of living with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM)
Team: Mridula Bandyopadhyay, Rhonda Small, Mary-Ann Davey, Della Forster in collaboration with Jeremy Oats, Amanda Aylward, The Royal Women's Hospital
Funding: La Trobe University Faculty of Health Sciences Research Grant 2009
Status: Completed, paper published
   
 
Lost in translation? Health care providers and South Asian women's views about management of diabetes in pregnancy
Team: Mridula Bandyopadhyay, Rhonda Small, Mary-Ann Davey; in collaboration with Jeremy Oats, Amanda Aylward, The Royal Women's Hospital; Catharine McNamara, Deborah Boyce, The Mercy Hospital for Women; Helena Teede, Southern Health
Funding: La Trobe University Faculty of Health Sciences Research Grant 2010–2011
Status: Analysis continuing, conference abstract and paper under preparation
   
 
Are women really scared of giving birth? Women's explanations for choosing elective caesareans for their first birth
Team: Karalyn McDonald, Jo Rayner and Rhonda Small
Funding: La Trobe University Faculty of Health Sciences Research Grants 2010
Status: Ethics approval from La Trobe University received; interviews in progress
   
 
MOSAIC (MOtherS' Advocates In the Community) a cluster randomised trial
Team: Angela Taft, Rhonda Small, Lyn Watson and previously with Judith Lumley; in collaboration with Kelsey Hegarty, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne;and Lisa Gold, Deakin University
Funding: NHMRC, VicHealth, Community Support Grants Fund, beyondblue
Status: Study completed, analysis of interview data continuing; primary outcomes paper and economic methods paper published in 2011
   
Systematic Reviews      
Interventions for supporting women with decisions about vaginal birth after caesarean birth
Team: Dell Horey, La Trobe University; Mary-Ann Davey, Rhonda Small, Michelle Kealy
Status: protocol submitted
   
Collaborative Work      
Health promotion in pregnancy and early parenthood. The challenge of innovation, implementation and change
Team: Kristina Edvardsson in collaboration with Annel iIvarsson, Eva Eurenius, Marie Lindkvist and Ingrid Mogren, Umeå University, Sweden; Rickard Garvare, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden; Monica Nyström, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; and Rhonda Small (MCHR)
Funding: The Faculty of Medicine and FAS Centre of Global Health Research at Umeå University in Sweden 2009–2012
Status: Two papers published in 2011; two manuscripts in preparation
   
 
Reproductive Outcomes And Migration (ROAM): an international collaboration
Team: Rhonda Small, Mary-Ann Davey and Mridula Bandyopadhyay;
ROAM Steering Group: Anita Gagnon, McGill University, Canada; Rhonda Small, MCHR; Mika Gissler, Institute of Health, Finland; Carolyn Roth, University of Keele, UK; Jennifer Zeitlin, INSERM, France and EURO-PERISTAT
http://migrationandreproductivehealth.org
Funding: Canadian Institutes of Health Research International Collaboration grant 2007–2008 and Systematic Review grant 2010; further funding sought in 2012
Status:

Five papers published; one in press; several in preparation
   
PUBLICATIONS (2007 - current)
 
Horey D, Davey M-A, Small R, Kealy M. Interventions for supporting women with decisions about vaginal birth after caesarean birth [Protocol]. Cochrane Database Syst Rev Forthcoming 2012

Willis K, Small R, Brown S. Using documents to investigate links between implementation and sustainability in a complex community intervention: The PRISM study. Soc Sci Med 2012;75(7):1222-9. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612004534

Shafiei T, Small R, McLachlan H. Women's views and experiences of maternity care: A study of immigrant Afghan women in Melbourne, Australia. Midwifery 2012;28(2):198-203. Available from: http://www.midwiferyjournal.com/article/S0266-6138(11)00025-8/abstract

Taft AJ, Small R, Hegarty KL, Watson LF, Gold L, Lumley JA. 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; 11: 178. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/178

Small R, Taft AJ, Brown SJ. The power of social connection and support in improving health: lessons from social support interventions with childbearing women. BMC Public Health 2011; 11(Suppl 5): S4. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/S5/S4

Edvardsson K, Ivarsson A, Eurenius E, Garvare R, Nystrom M, Small R, Mogren I. Giving offspring a healthy start: parents' experiences of health promotion and lifestyle change during pregnancy and early parenthood. BMC Public Health 2011; 11: 936. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/936

Bandyopadhyay M, Small R, Davey MA, Oats JJ, Forster DA, Aylward A. Lived experience of gestational diabetes mellitus among immigrant South Asian women in Australia. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol 2011;51(4):360-4. Epub 2011 Jun 9. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1479-828X.2011.01322.x/full

Kealy MA, Small RE, Liamputtong P. Recovery after caesarean birth: A qualitative study of women's accounts in Victoria, Australia. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2010;10. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/10/47

Bandyopadhyay M, Small R, Watson LF, Brown S. Life with a new baby: How do immigrant and Australian-born women's experiences compare? Aust NZJ Public Health 2010;34(4):412-21. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00575.x

Armstrong SJ, Small RE. The paradox of screening: Rural women's views on screening for postnatal depression. BMC Public Health 2010; 10: 744. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/744

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 Assur 2010;23(2):153-70. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09526861011017085

Taft AJ, Small R, Hegarty KL, 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; 9: 159. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/159

Gissler M, Alexander S, Macfarlane A, Small R, Stray-Pedersen B, Zeitlin J, Zimbeck M, Gagnon A, For The Roam C. Stillbirths and infant deaths among migrants in industrialized countries. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2009;88(2):134-48. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00016340802603805

Gagnon AJ, Zimbeck M, Zeitlin J. Migration to western industrialised countries and perinatal health: A systematic review. Soc Sci Med 2009;69(6):934-46. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953609003979

Flood M, Small R. Researching labour and birth events using health information records: methodological challenges. Midwifery 2009;25(6):701-10. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2007.12.003

Brown S, Small R, Argus B, Davis Peter G, Krastev A. Early postnatal discharge from hospital for healthy mothers and term infants. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2009; (2): Art. No.: CD002958. Available from: http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD002958/frame.html

Taft AJ, Small R, Hoang KA. Intimate partner violence in Vietnam and among Vietnamese diaspora communities in Western societies: A comprehensive review. JFS 2008;14(2-3):167-82. Available from: http://pubs.e-contentmanagement.com/doi/abs/10.5172/jfs.327.14.2-3.167

Small R, Gagnon A, Gissler M, Zeitlin J, Bennis M, Glazier RH, 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(13):1630-40. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-0528.2008.01942.x/abstract

Bastos Maria H, Bick D, Rowan Catherine J, Small R, McKenzie-McHarg K. Debriefing for the prevention of psychological trauma in women following childbirth [Protocol]. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008; (2): Art. No.: CD007194. Available from: http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD007194/frame.html

Aghlmand S, Akbari F, Lameei A, Mohammad K, Small R, Arab M. Developing evidence-based maternity care in Iran: A quality improvement study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2008;8. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/8/20

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 NZJ Public Health 2007;31(5):438-43. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00115.x

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(1):70-8. Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/8ww88730k0665131/

Small R, Lumley J. Reduction of maternal depression: much remains to be done. Lancet [Invited commentary] 2007;370(9599):1593-5. Available from: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2807%2961669-9/fulltext

Small R, Armstrong S. Study highlighted important issues. Aust NZJ Public Health 2007;31(3):286-7. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-842X.2007.00064.x

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 NZJ Public Health 2007;31(6):545-50. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00141.x

Daly J, Willis K, Small R, Green J, Welch N, Kealy M, Hughes E. A hierarchy of evidence for assessing qualitative health research. J Clin Epidemiol 2007;60(1):43-9. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08954356/60/1

Armstrong S, Small R. Screening for postnatal depression: Not a simple task. Aust NZJ Public Health 2007;31(1):57-61. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00011.x/abstract
 
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Content Approved by: Director, Mother and Child Health Research
Page maintained by: Administrator
Last Updated: August 13, 2012