Helping vulnerable mothers and babies access timely help when needed

Dr Ying Jin has been awarded a Health Delivery Research (HRC) Activation Grant for her project to develop clinical guidelines for the timing and process of consent to use pasteurised donor human milk (PDHM) for mothers and babies in need.

HRC Activation Grants provide support to enable established or prospective researchers and/or research providers to establish health delivery research evidence needs or research opportunities, or develop research capacity, before applying for further health delivery funding. These grants are designed to incentivise readying and planning for research where resourcing to get started is not otherwise available. 

Dr Jin is very excited to have the opportunity to activate urgently-needed research for maternity services and explains that the data collected from the project will help identify unmet needs with the current consent process and develop a draft clinical guideline.

“Our preliminary results from a 2023 MURF [Massey University Research Fund]-funded project found that negotiating informed consent to use pasteurised donor human milk (PDHM) was difficult for women and their families immediately after childbirth. Failure to secure informed consent promptly meant PDHM use was delayed, so mothers and babies were not gaining the full benefits of using PDHM during a critical period for establishing breastfeeding.” 

This grant will allow Dr Jin and her team, which includes Dr Linda Murray, Professor Lisa Te Morenga, and two lactation consultants, Louise Wedgwood and Jacquie Nutt, to bring together a collaborative team, including representation from Māori midwives and other stakeholders, to support the development of a future Health Delivery Project grant application to test the newly-developed clinical guideline.

“An evidence-based clinical guideline will be developed and validated by the end of the Health Delivery Project. This will contribute to a safe and effective consent process for both health professionals and parents consenting to PDHM use and maximise its benefits for vulnerable hospitalised infants,” Dr Jin explains.

Dr Jin was awarded an HRC Explorer Grant earlier this year, which looked into feeding vulnerable infants with donor human milk. Ultimately she hopes that her research in this field will help in providing optimal care for mothers and hospitalised infants as part of breastfeeding support strategies.