Midwives' competence: is it affected by working in a rural location?

Vanora Hundley

qualifications: PhD

contribution: original concept, designed the project, devised survey tool, literature review, collected data, supervised data collection, input data, statistical analysis, wrote the first draft, supplied data

position: Honorary senior lecturer

United Kingdom

Vanora is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Nursing & Midwifery at the University of Stirling. She is an experienced midwifery researcher who has carried out research in both midwifery and multidisciplinary settings. Her research interests include new models of maternity care and the identification of users' preferences and priorities in determining service provision. She has served as European representative on the International Confederation of Midwives' (ICM) Research Standing Committee for two terms (6 years) and remains a member of the ICM's Research Advisory Network. She is a Trustee and Vice-Chair of the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust.

Janet Tucker

qualifications: PhD

contribution: original concept, designed the project, devised survey tool, supervised data collection, contributed to drafts, supplied data

position: Senior research fellow

United Kingdom

I have a background in perinatal epidemiology and public health. Evaluations of services have used mixed methods and economic perspectives. I have an interest in evaluation of alternative staffing models in perinatal health services and networks in remote and rural settings in Scotland.

Edwin Van Teijlingen

qualifications: PhD

contribution: original concept, designed the project, literature review, supervised data collection, contributed to drafts, supplied data

position: Reader

United Kingdom

Edwin van Teijlingen is a medical sociologist in the Section of Population Health at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. He is a Visiting Professor in the School of Health & Social Care at Bournemouth University, England, UK. He is coordinator of the M.Sc. in Health Services & Public Health Research and joint coordinator of the M.Sc. in International Health & Management. He is involved a range of rural studies in the reproductive and sexual health field, both in the UK and abroad (especially in Nepal). He has published widely on the organisation of maternity care in the Scotland and Netherlands. His edited books include Birth by Design (Routledge) and Midwifery and the Medicalization of Childbirth (Nova Science).

Alice Kiger

qualifications: PhD

contribution: original concept, designed the project, supervised data collection, contributed to drafts, supplied data

position: Director

Jilly Ireland

qualifications: MSc

contribution: literature review, supervised data collection, contributed to drafts, supplied data

position: Lecturer

Fiona Harris

qualifications: PhD

contribution: literature review, supervised data collection, contributed to drafts, supplied data

position: Research fellow

United Kingdom

I am a researcher based in Community Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh with interests that encompass the sociology and anthropology of the body, emotion and experience; ritual, religion and conversion in Southeast Asia (the focus of my doctoral fieldwork); rural maternity care; palliative care; qualitative research methods - particularly ethnography, reflexivity and arts-based research methods. I am currently working on a project related to health service delivery and organisation and another related to mental health.

Prof Jane Farmer

qualifications: PhD

contribution: original concept, designed the project, supervised data collection, contributed to drafts, supplied data

position: Professor

Australia

Director, Social Innovation Research Institute, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Interests: rural service design, community/citizen involvement in service provision and design, international comparative research in rural health services

Jan Caldow

qualifications: MSc

contribution: original concept, designed the project, supervised data collection, contributed to drafts, supplied data

position: Research fellow

United Kingdom

Jan Caldow is a Research Fellow with many years of quantitative and qualitative experience based at the Department of General Practice and Primary Care, Aberdeen University. Her particular interest is in the wider and changing role of nurses in general practice and community care settings.

Helen Bryers

qualifications: MM

contribution: original concept, designed the project, supervised data collection, contributed to drafts, supplied data, literature review

position: Head of midwifery