Professor Joan Lalor

Summary

Funding Agency

HORIZON-MSCA-2023-DN-01-01

Person Months

60

Summary

This COST Action is a follow on Ac tion from CA 18211- Devotion focussing further on the transgenerational consequences of maternal stress on offspring and the family. High levels of maternal perinatal stress are associated with negative effects in the offspring. The adverse impact maternal stress can have in the infants"s health is 1) in the short term (prematurity, low infant birthweight); 2) the long-term (neuroinflamation, autism); 3) the very long-term (transgenerational effects). Previous studies have reported maternal stress can have transgenerational consequences. During pregnancy, high levels of maternal stress can cross the placenta and reach the fetus. Mediators responsible for the impact of maternal stress in the developing fetus include cytokines, tryptophan, cortisol, cathecolamines, reactive oxygen species, oxidative stress and microbiota. These mediators, along with epigenetic mechanisms, are involved on the adverse consequences high levels of maternal stress can have in the offspring. In order to improve fetal development and boost infant"s health throughout their lifespan, the TREASURE project aims to consolidate a multidisciplinary and international network of scientists, clinicians, students, stakeholders, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Enterprises to achieve impact through a three-fold main objective : 1) discovering, reviewing and disseminating scientific evidence on minimize, reduce and prevent the impact of maternal perinatal stress on fetal development, and to improve psychological, medical and neural development in the offspring during their life-span; 2) bridging knowledge, evidence and experience between scientific disciplines, and bringing international research groups together to increase knowledge exchange between countries. 3) forming international coalitions to efficiently translate scientific knowledge into clinical guidelines and best practices across Europe to improve the health of children, and reducing economic cost appearing from high levels of maternal perinatal stress.

Funding Agency

COST EU

Project Type

Networking

Summary

In May 2018 the Irish people voted to repeal the 8th Amendment to the Constitution and paved the way for the rollout of abortion services in 2019, heralding a radical change in clinical practice as well as in law. A major challenge that has emerged in abortion provision is how to accommodate the right to conscientious objection while ensuring equitable access to abortion services. The right of conscientious objection allows a person refuse to engage in a particular task by reason of their personal moral objection to it. The Health (Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 provides for a right to conscientious objection. Anecdotal evidence suggests that right is quite widely relied upon, with the result that access to abortion may be limited in some locations. However, the right does not extend to certain persons who may strongly object to abortion, such as health care assistants, hospital administrators, and pharmacists. The objective of the CORALE Study is to investigate, for the first time, the operation of the right to conscientious objection in abortion services in Ireland and to develop a coherent framework for situating conscientious objection within a system of access to abortion services in a manner that is proportionate, effective and legally robust. To investigate this complex question, an interdisciplinary approach is inherently necessary, because it seeks to understand how a legal right operates in the reality of clinical practice. The Project Team spans the disciplines of law, midwifery and ethics. Building on a sophisticated theoretical framework, the Project will employ interviews, focus groups and surveys with those involved at the frontline of abortion provision. The Project will produce evidence and recommendations that will inform abortion law and policy in Ireland, but also generate important contributions to international scholarship and policy debate on conscientious objection in abortion services.

Funding Agency

Irish Research Council

Programme

Coalesce

Summary

This project in collaboration with Prof Julia Seng Ann Arbor University, USA will explore further the impact of maltreatment in childbirth on women with a history of maltreatment in childhood and interpersonal violence

Funding Agency

Plan to apply to HRB

Project Type

Qualitative research

Person Months

24

Summary

This project involves bringing together international experts to contribute to this edited book on Childbirth Related Trauma. The focus of this book involves a new and emerging area, the field of perinatal or birth-related trauma which is relatively unrecognised. It is quite recent that acknowledgement has been given to the possibility that Birth can be a traumatic experience even when the life/health of the mother and infant are not significantly challenged. Intergenerational trauma is also an emerging field.

Project Type

edited book

Person Months

24