Family Planning
June 5, 2024
2nd annual Global WACh Student Poster Symposium celebrates and highlights student achievements over the academic year
Categories: Certificate Program, Family Planning, Gut Health and Child Survival, HIV and Co-Infections, Research, students, Talks and Events
On May 28th in the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, Global WACh hosted its second annual Student Poster Symposium featuring graduate student research aimed at improving the health and well-being of women, adolescents, and children. It was a celebratory end-of-year event to acknowledge students’ training, service, and achievement and give well wishes to those graduating UW.
This year’s symposium featured 14 posters by master’s and doctoral students and a postdoctoral fellow representing several departments and schools – Applied Bioengineering, Epidemiology, Global Health (General and Implementation Science tracks), Nursing, and Social Work. These included 90-hour capstone projects completed by students enrolled in the Global WACh Graduate Certificate Program, and master’s thesis and PhD dissertation-related posters by student supporting Global WACh’s research portfolio. Three posters were featured at scientific conferences over the academic year and shared with the UW global health community. (more…)
June 3, 2024
Global WACh faculty, staff, students attend a team retreat to build community and advance strategic initiatives
Categories: Family Planning, Gut Health and Child Survival, HIV and Co-Infections, Talks and Events
On May 22nd, Global WACh hosted an all-day team retreat at the UW Waterfront Activities Center. 46 faculty, staff, and student trainees spent the day together with the goals of 1) team building across Global WACh’s scientific priorities, and 2) advancing strategic initiatives for scientific impact, deep work, and expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion in our community. The retreat was part of a larger “Think Week” aimed at protecting time and space for creative thinking to expand innovation to improve the health of women, adolescents, and children. (more…)
February 15, 2024
New project aims to expand access to sexual and reproductive health care in South King County
Categories: Awards, Contraception, Family Planning
May 26, 2023
Global WACh participates in the DGH LAPIS Symposium
Categories: Conferences, Family Planning, Gut Health and Child Survival, Implementation Science, PrEP, Research
On May 19th in the Hans Rosling Center, the Learning for Action in Policy Implementation and Health Systems (LAPIS) Initiative–a resource hub aiming to foster collaboration across the Department of Global Health and support the integration of health policy or health systems objectives into research grants and training–held its first event in the Global Health Systems and Policy Implementation Symposium Series. The event included lightning talk sessions, poster abstract sessions, and opportunities for networking. Multiple centers, programs, and initiatives of the department, including Global WACh, participated in the symposium to showcase their efforts in health systems strengthening, policy implementation research, and education and training. (more…)
December 29, 2022
Mobile WACh Empower trial, aimed to evaluate SMS-based reproductive health counseling intervention among women living with HIV, launches in Kenya
Categories: Awards, Contraception, Family Planning
Mobile WACh Empower study team members from UW Global WACh and Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya (Credit: Alison Drake)
On December 1st, the Mobile WACh Empower randomized clinical trial launched in 10 sites in Kenya. In this trial, the study team aims to assess whether a digital, self-administered reproductive life planning counseling tool given to women living with HIV (WLWH) at baseline and continued counseling support through the unique two-way Mobile WACh SMS platform that combines automated bulk SMS messaging and dialogue with a health care provider (the foundation for several former and ongoing Global WACh studies using mobile health technology) can reduce contraceptive discontinuation, improve dual contraceptive use, and help women plan for healthy pregnancies. This innovative intervention was developed though stakeholder engagement in workshops held with WLWH, health care providers, and policy makers in June and November 2022. The intervention is designed to reduce the burden for health care providers to offer reproductive counseling, tailor reproductive life planning counseling for a range of needs, and importantly, support women as their needs change over time. (more…)
New study will develop novel approach to measure fertility intentions among Kenyan women
Categories: Awards, Contraception, Family Planning
Closeup of pregnancy test and contraceptive pills birth control concept
Measuring fertility intentions, which pertain to ideal family size and desire for additional children, is complex and may be influenced by contextual factors and culture, and beliefs held by individuals that drive their attitudes and behaviors. Most existing fertility intention scales are designed to classify women with binary measures, such as having an intended or unintended pregnancy, and do not allow for the spectrum of feelings that women might have, including ambivalent feelings about pregnancy. (more…)
August 3, 2022
Mobile WACh NEO randomized controlled trial achieves milestone to enroll 5,020 research participants
Categories: Family Planning, Research
Newborn care practices and interventions are available to support neonatal survival, but coverage remains a challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, where neonatal mortality is unacceptably high. Many newborns continue to die at home without health care services being sought. The reasons are multifactorial, at the societal, health system, and family levels. Delays recognizing illness and deciding to seek care contribute to up to 80% of neonatal and child deaths. (more…)
March 6, 2020
Winter Quarter Certificate Student Spotlight: Kristen Trivelli, Doctorate of Nurse Practitioner Student
Categories: Certificate Program, Family Planning, students
Kristen Trivelli, a third-year Family Nurse Practitioner doctoral student in the School of Nursing and current Global WACh Certificate student, traveled to Zimbabwe in summer of 2018 to complete her certificate capstone on breastfeeding education. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the benefits associated with breastfeeding so valuable that it is the recommended feeding method for mothers and infants worldwide for the first six months of the infants’ lives. However, current research shows exclusive breastfeeding rates are low in Zimbabwe. With the support of the Department of Global Health’s GO-Health Fellowship, Kristen sought to understand how breastfeeding education is provided from the perspective of nurses, and how parents receive this education in Zimbabwe. She designed and led her own qualitative study and hopes to share her findings with stakeholders to improve exclusive breastfeeding rates in the country. (more…)
February 3, 2020
Predoctoral Research Fellow, Claire Rothschild, receives NICHD fellowship award focused on women’s reproductive health in Kenya
Categories: Awards, Contraception, Family Planning, students
Claire Rothschild, a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology, received a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) F31 pre-doctoral fellowship to support her dissertation research on using mobile technology to improve family planning data and outcomes in Kenya. In collaboration with PATH-Kenya and Kenyatta National Hospital, Claire’s research focuses on better understanding when and why women discontinue and switch methods of contraception, with the specific goal of identifying factors that predict dissatisfaction and early discontinuation of contraceptive methods among women who do not wish to become pregnant. (more…)
June 11, 2019
Family Planning Decision Support teams publishes findings from Mobile WACh XY and receives funding for new Mobile WACh NEO trial
Categories: Awards, Family Planning, mHealth, Research
The Mobile WACh mHealth platform is the foundation of multiple studies under the Family Planning Decision Support Scientific Priority Area. The system allows for both automated sending of tailored health-related SMS messages and two-way SMS interaction between participants and a health care provider in low- to middle-income countries.
The patient, Gertude, receives automated and personalized messages from a nurse through the Mobile WACh platform regarding her infant’s health. Source: Brenda Daroka (Kenyatta National Hospital), East African Science & Technology Commission Conference presentation
Originally designed to use SMS text messaging as a means to keep expectant mothers informed and involved in the health of themselves and their babies, the platform provides new and innovative opportunities to promote family planning at critical time points. Family planning allows women to determine whether and when to have children, enhancing their educational and employment prospects. This, in turn, improves their income levels, family stability, and mental well-being, while contributing to improved health outcomes for themselves and their children.
We’re pleased to share recent achievements contributed by the Mobile WACh platform. (more…)
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