Study Findings

At the moment, we are looking at the information we gathered in the survey and interviews in more detail so that we can get a full picture of the challenges women face and the support that they would like with starting (or enlarging) a family.

We will write a full report on what we’ve found and will upload more information a little later in the year. We’ll also be looking to publish the findings in academic journals, and to share these findings with health professionals and policy makers so that we can get things moving forward. We are also starting to plan new projects. 

We have presented the work at numerous conferences and meetings: 

Denitza Williams, Bethan Pell, Aimee Grant, Ann Taylor, Ernest Choy, Julia Sanders, Helen Stanton, Adrian Edwards, Rhiannon Phillips. Improving support for women with musculoskeletal conditions during pregnancy, pregnancy planning, and early parenting, Division of Population Medicine, Cardiff University, February 2017. 

Aimee Grant, Denitza Williams, Bethan Pell, Helen Stanton, Rhiannon Phillips on behalf of the STAR study team. The impact of rheumatic diseases (such as arthritis and lupus) on transitions to motherhood and maternal self-identity: The STAR project. British Sociological Society, Manchester, April 2017.

Denitza Williams, Bethan Pell, Aimee Grant, Ann Taylor, Ernest Choy, Julia Sanders, Helen Stanton, Adrian Edwards, Rhiannon Phillips. Pre-conception, pregnancy and parenting: the need for information and support for women with an auto-immune rheumatic disease. Population Health Conference, Cardiff, May 2017.

Bethan Pell, Denitza Williams, Aimee Grant, Ann Taylor, Ernest Choy, Julia Sanders, Helen Stanton, Adrian Edwards, Rhiannon Phillips. Transitions towards motherhood for women with an autoimmune rheumatic disease. Gender in Wales Then and Now:  Representations, Understandings and Lived Experiences. Swansea, June, 2017

Denitza Williams, Bethan Pell, Aimee Grant, Ann Taylor, Ernest Choy, Julia Sanders, Helen Stanton, Adrian Edwards, Rhiannon Phillips Medication and pregnancy: the need to incorporate shared-decision making into Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease consultations. International shared decision making conference, Lyon, France, July 2017.

Phillips, R, Pell, B, Grant, A, Edwards, A, Choy, E, Taylor, A, Bowen, D, Sanders, J, Stanton, H, Williams, D. To identify the information and support needs of women with Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases (ARDs) to optimise their well-being during family planning, pregnancy and early parenting. Cardiff, September, 2017.

Aimee Grant, Bethan Pell, Denitza Williams, Rhiannon Phillips on behalf of the STAR Family study team. It’s not about the timeline: the use of creative and visual methods to increase participant control during interviews about arthritis and family planning. Qualitative Health Research conference, Canada, October 2017 (upcoming).