P18 - Using poetic inquiry to give voice to women who had a traumatic birth through bearing witness

Abstract

Pregnancy, birth and nurturing a newborn is a transformative rite of passage that, although challenging, should result in women who acknowledge their strength and feel capable to mother their children. Unfortunately, research identifies a third of women find their experience of pregnancy and birth to be a traumatic experience and are vulnerable to ongoing psychological issues such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD. In this presentation we will share how the collaborative process between a researcher and poet, using poetry inquiry, created a collection of found poems from open ended survey data. The found poems were created using the written responses from the Australian Birth Experience Study (BESt) survey which was live between March -December 2021 and had 8,804 completed responses. The poetic inquiry analysis was undertaken through reflexive poetry from the poet and through reflection by the researcher and the poems highlighted women's experiences of traumatic birth. The poems powerfully display themes of lack of control and consent through illuminating the voices of the women who shared their traumatic birthing stories. The presentation will explore the process of poetry inquiry and the audience will have the opportunity to hear the poet read selected poems. This emotive experience will increase understanding and raise awareness in the audience and wider community on the ongoing impact of experiencing birth trauma.