GNT1135125 Building on Our Strengths (BOOSt): Developing and Evaluating Birthing On Country Primary Maternity Units

The BOOSt project has strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance, leadership and oversight. It is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded partnership project.

The aim of the project is to implement and evaluate 'Birthing on Country' services in diverse settings: urban (Queensland) and rural (New South Wales) settings.

The objectives of the project are:

•to determine the feasibility of establishing a Birthing on Country service, with a standalone birth centre, at each site
•to determine the acceptability of the service for women, their communities and health service providers (local and referral service)
•to measure the cultural and clinical safety, efficacy and cost
•to determine the key processes in creating a sustainable Birthing on Country service and facility.

The project uses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research methodologies and Participatory Action Research to undertake a mixed methods study. The primary outcomes for the project is healthy mothers and healthy babies.

For more information on the project, please see the website link under access project section.