Birth Trauma Education Project

RANZCOG has partnered with Birth Trauma Australia to launch the Birth Trauma Education Program: An accessible program to provide trauma-informed care education to a range of multidisciplinary maternity health professionals.

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What is the Birth Trauma Education Project?

The Birth Trauma Education Project emerges from the recommendations detailed in the NSW Parliament’s Select Committee on Birth Trauma Inquiry report, and ongoing collaboration with the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

The inquiries made it undeniably clear that, despite efforts to prevent it, birth trauma remains a persistent challenge faced by birthing people and those involved in providing maternity care.

Funded by the Commonwealth Government, RANZCOG has partnered with Birth Trauma Australia to develop this education initiative combining online learning modules with in-person multidisciplinary workshops and webinars.

Discussions are also underway in Aotearoa New Zealand to build on this project – the College is working collaboratively with Birth Trauma Aotearoa, the New Zealand College of Midwives, and other key stakeholders to research experiences of birth trauma in Aotearoa which will inform the development of an education program specific to Aotearoa New Zealand. RANZCOG continues to advocate for prevention of birth trauma through education, assessment, and access to physiotherapy treatment, especially during pregnancy.

Program aims

Make a meaningful difference to address the core causes of birth trauma and identify opportunities for change or improvement.

Draw on both practitioner and patient perspectives.

Deliver birth trauma and trauma-informed care education to a range of maternity health professionals.

Use a combination of online learning and in-person multidisciplinary sessions, ensuring accessibility to personnel across Australia.

Program delivery

The program has mandatory eLearning component, followed by participation in either workshop or webinar. The program will be delivered by RANZCOG Fellows or Associates, Midwives and Birth Trauma Australia.

By completing the Birth Trauma Education package, participants will be eligible to claim CPD hours.

Face-to-face

1 hour eLearning module
3.5 hour in-person workshop

Webinars

1 hour eLearning module
3.5 hour live online workshop

Program implementation

The initial pilot program has been delivered across rural, regional, and metropolitan sites in New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia, with national participation enabled through virtual delivery. A multidisciplinary audience including obstetricians, midwives, GP obstetricians, nurses, and allied health professionals to model collaborative approaches essential to respectful maternity care.

Evaluation

The Birth Trauma Education Program primarily attracted participants seeking to address knowledge gaps and strengthen trauma-informed maternity care. Results from pre- and post-program surveys demonstrated significant improvements in participant awareness, knowledge, and confidence, particularly in recognising birth trauma and understanding its causes and impacts. Although participant awareness and knowledge of birth trauma care for Indigenous and CALD patients improved as a result of the program, participant awareness and knowledge of these areas are still, to a degree, lacking. These areas will require greater focus in future iterations of the program to support clinician cultural awareness and knowledge.

Participants reported high satisfaction with the program, and in particular expressed the value of lived-experience accounts and practical strategies for responding to birth trauma. Nearly all participants felt confident applying their learning in practice. Participants recommended future programs place greater emphasis on practical skills in debriefing and trauma-informed care, lived experience perspectives, and cultural safety considerations.

In-depth interviews generated the recommendation that there should be a baseline standard of birth trauma knowledge for all professionals working in maternal healthcare. Interview participants conveyed how the program enabled them to communicate more carefully and effectively with patients vulnerable to birth trauma. Participants discussed how the program inspired them to evolve their workplace practice in terms of documentation, assessment, and debriefing such that this practice supports trauma-informed care. Participants also conveyed how the Birth Trauma Education Program gave them the permission to acknowledge the very real impact of vicarious trauma on clinicians, and they considered that this area should have greater emphasis in the next iterations of the program.