Birth Place Lab

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Birth Place Lab

In the Division of Midwifery at the University of British Columbia
Issues around access to high quality maternity health care across birth settings

September 28 30, 2014
Seattle, Washington

08/26/2026

Did you miss it?

In May 2026, Dr. Celina Solís and Dr. Raymonde Gagnon joined us to share about "Language & Perinatal Care in Canada: Francophone vs Anglophone Experiences" for our Justice and Equity in Perinatal Services (JEPS) seminar series.

In their seminar, Dr. Celina Solis (in English) and Dr. Raymonde Gagnon (in Canadian French) presented their research on how linguistic diversity shapes experiences of perinatal care in Canada. Drawing on data from the RESPCCT study, which collected responses from more than 6,000 participants across Canada, they examined the design of a qualitative analysis comparing the experiences of French-speaking and English-speaking individuals. The presentation highlighted the role of language in perinatal care, its connection to broader dimensions of cultural diversity, and the key elements of qualitative research design. The findings from this work aim to promote greater cultural safety and reduce discrimination in perinatal health services.

Here, presenter Celina Solís, a research associate at the Birth Place Lab, summarizes quotes from participants who describe linguistic barriers they experienced.

View the recording → https://www.birthplacelab.org/jeps/seminar-series/

08/19/2026

In May 2026, Dr. Celina Solís and Dr. Raymonde Gagnon joined us to share about "Language & Perinatal Care in Canada: Francophone vs Anglophone Experiences" for our Justice and Equity in Perinatal Services (JEPS) seminar series.

In their seminar, Dr. Celina Solis (in English) and Dr. Raymonde Gagnon (in Canadian French) presented their research on how linguistic diversity shapes experiences of perinatal care in Canada. Drawing on data from the RESPCCT study, which collected responses from more than 6,000 participants across Canada, they examined the design of a qualitative analysis comparing the experiences of French-speaking and English-speaking individuals. The presentation highlighted the role of language in perinatal care, its connection to broader dimensions of cultural diversity, and the key elements of qualitative research design. The findings from this work aim to promote greater cultural safety and reduce discrimination in perinatal health services.

Here, presenter Celina Solís, a research associate at the Birth Place Lab, defines "language" and explains how it impacts the perinatal experience.

View the recording → https://www.birthplacelab.org/jeps/seminar-series/

08/14/2026

The "Provider Attitudes to Planned Home Birth" (PAPHB) scale can be used to assess similarities and differences among types of providers in readiness to offer community birth services or collaborate with community birth providers.

Facts you should know about PAPHB:
🔨 The scales contain 20 items (PAPHB), 17 items (PAPHB-M), or 9 items (PAPHB-I)
🪛 Items assess the impact of participants’ education and exposure through personal or work experience
🔧 Higher scores indicate more positive attitudes

There are different versions: PAPHB, designed for midwives; PAPHB-M (multidisciplinary) which is designed for use across health disciplines; and PAPHB-I (international) which can compare attitudes among midwives from different countries. These scales, originally developed in 2009, have been used by researchers internationally including in Australia, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Spain, Turkey, and the United States.

Access our tools → https://vist.ly/5eug6

08/12/2026

The "Birth Place Research Quality" (ResQu) index helps evaluate the quality of research examining the effects of birth place on health outcomes.

Facts you should know about ResQu:
🔨 It contains 27 items across five domains
🪛 Higher values indicate higher quality; rates studies as "strong," "moderate," or "weak"
🔧 Reliable and valid tool, developed by an international, multi-disciplinary panel of 21 experts
🪚 The components of the index meet best-practice standards for critical appraisal tools

The ResQu index is the first grading system developed to assess the quality of the available studies on birth place. It has been recognized by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada - SOGC) as an appropriate tool for assessing the quality of research that compares outcomes across birth settings (see SOGC Clinical Practice Guideline No. 372).

Access our tools → https://vist.ly/5ejry

08/10/2026

The "Mistreatment" (MIST) index helps clarify seven dimensions of human rights violations that align with the Bohren typology: physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, stigma and discrimination, failure to meet professional standards of care, poor rapport between women and providers, and poor conditions and constraints presented by the health system.

Facts you should know about MIST:
🔨 It contains 7 items, with binary response (yes/no)
🪛 Higher scores indicate more types of mistreatment experienced
🔧 Reliable and valid patient-reported experience instrument

MIST has been translated into 14 languages and employed by more than 650 users across 29 countries! MIST is available under a Creative Commons license.

Access our tools → https://vist.ly/5ea4x

08/07/2026

The "Measures of Respect" (MOR) index, also known by the name "Mothers on Respect" index, helps assess the nature of respectful patient-provider interactions and their impact on a person’s comfort, behavior, and experiences of racism or discrimination.

Facts you should know about MOR:
🔨 There are two versions: one with 7 items and one with 14 items, with 6 Likert response options ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree"
🪛 Higher scores indicate more respectful care
🔧 Reliable and valid patient-reported experience instrument

MOR has been translated into 25 languages and employed by more than 650 users across 63 countries! MOR is available under a Creative Commons license.

Access our tools → https://vist.ly/5dzut

08/05/2026

The "My Autonomy In Decision-Making" (MADM) scale, also known by the name "Mothers' Autonomy in Decision-Making" scale, helps assess patients' experiences in decision-making when interacting with perinatal care providers.

Facts you should know about MADM:
🔨 It contains 7 items, with 6 Likert response options ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree"
🪛 Higher scores indicate more autonomy in decision-making
🔧 Reliable and valid patient-reported experience instrument

MADM has been translated into 21 languages and employed by more than 500 users across 61 countries! Version 2.0 is the most recent version, available under a Creative Commons license, and should be used for all new studies.

Access our tools → https://vist.ly/5dqbr

08/01/2026

Giving Voice to Mothers, our landmark study on respectful perinatal care, confirmed that most birthing people want to feed their baby from their body. However, not all of them received information, support, and resources to empower them to do so. Sometimes, this inequity was linked to race: for example, 72.8 % of white respondents said their care provider helped them get started with breastfeeding, compared to 53.4 % of Black respondents.

This World Breastfeeding Week, the call to action is "strengthen what works"–encouraging us to track progress and evaluate breastfeeding's impact on nutrition, food security, and poverty reduction. At the Birth Place Lab, we understand the power of research to transform outcomes, especially for marginalized populations. We look forward to learning more this week about programs that are working to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.

Learn more → https://vist.ly/5dada

07/23/2026

Birth is often expected to fit neatly into systems built around control, protocols, efficiency, and risk management. Safety matters, but birth also carries something that cannot be fully controlled, timing.

In this clip from the JEPS seminar "Material and Spirit: Designing Birth Spaces with Head, Heart and Hands," Esben Bala Skouboe discusses the challenge of creating environments where safety and uncertainty can coexist.

Watch the full presentation at: birthplacelab.org/jeps/seminar-series

07/19/2026

Landmark research carried out by the Birth Place Lab, including Giving Voice to Mothers and the RESPCCT survey, confirms the lived experience narratives shared by Black pregnant people: they are more likely than non-Black peers to enter pregnancy with elevated concern for their own mental health and well-being, and to experience mistreatment and disrespect in perinatal care.

However, our research also highlights a hopeful finding: Black birthing people are among the most likely to seek out care postpartum for their mental health support needs. Organizations like The Shades of Blue Project (), founder of Black Maternal Mental Health Week, and Postpartum Support International (Postpartum Support International), are helping to increase access to vital support by hosting online groups.

More about Shades of Blue Project support groups → https://vist.ly/5brpe

More about Postpartum Support International support groups → https://vist.ly/5brpb

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