In this webinar, Annie and Alecia described how they designed, recruited and supported a consumer / lived experience engagement approach for the Living Evidence for Australian Pregnancy and Postnatal care (LEAPP) guidelines. Together they operationalized what ‘diversity’ meant for these guidelines, and selected a 16-member Consumer Panel with a diversity of pregnancy and postnatal experiences, consumer representative experience and that reflects key demographic groups relevant to the guidelines. They described the practical steps they took to reduce the barriers to participation and create an inclusive and impactful consumer engagement approach.
Speakers:
Dr Annie Synnot is a Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, and the Consumer Engagement Lead for the Australian Living Evidence Collaboration and the Living Evidence for Australian Pregnancy and Postnatal care (LEAPP) guidelines. She researchers how consumers / people with lived experience can be partners in the production, dissemination and use of evidence, particularly living guidelines.
Alecia Staines founded Australia’s leading maternity consumer organisation, Maternity Consumer Network. She is involved with policy development at State and National level including national maternity strategy, Rural Maternity Taskforce, Queensland Birth Strategy, Medicare for Midwives and Publicly Funded Homebirth. She mentors other consumers to engage with their local maternity services and politicians to achieve access to better maternity services and achieve woman-centred care. She has 6 children she has birthed in a range of settings; hospital, birth centre and home.
