Birth Experience Study (BESt)

In 2021, CMS helped support the Birth Experience Study, the largest of its kind in Australia. An initiative of Western Sydney University and BirthTime – the Documentary, the study investigated women’s experiences of accessing maternity care services in Australia over a five-year period.

CMS provided partial funding for the study to be translated into seven additional languages: Arabic, Chinese, Farsi/Persian, Filipino, Hindi, Thai and Vietnamese. CMS also provided promotional support for the study.

The study received more than 6,000 responses, and researchers from WSU are working on a range of papers on the findings.

The BESt study has resulted in a number of articles of interest, including those linked below from ‘The Conversation’:

https://theconversation.com/more-than-6-000-women-told-us-what-they-wanted-for-their-next-pregnancy-and-birth-heres-what-they-said-211435

https://theconversation.com/1-in-10-women-report-disrespectful-or-abusive-care-in-childbirth-186827