Project 455088

Despite increased pregnancy rates among women with physical, sensory, and intellectual and developmental disabilities (WWD), barriers to perinatal services are reported in high-income countries like Canada. One of the main barriers encountered by WWD is perinatal healthcare providers' lack of evidence-based disability-related knowledge. Healthcare providers' knowledge gaps put WWD at risk of ill-informed perinatal care decisions and unmet professional standards of care. Online training is increasingly being used to train healthcare providers about disability. This project aims to 1- investigate healthcare providers' information needs about WWD's perinatal care; 2- develop a cross-disability training module called ROADMAP; and 3- measure ROADMAP's outcomes on perceived knowledge, attitudes, and confidence among healthcare providers. First, an online survey will be sent to perinatal healthcare providers (physicians, nurses, midwives, lactation consultants) to analyze demographics, practice profile, perceived knowledge level, information needs, and perceived facilitators and barriers to knowledge use about working with WWD. A sample of healthcare providers will also be interviewed individually to enrich the survey results. Second, ROADMAP's content and format will be co-created with an advisory committee, informed by the survey and interview results. Third, we will analyze healthcare providers' perceived knowledge, attitudes, and confidence before and after ROADMAP training, and satisfaction and usability after ROADMAP training. This project will be one of the first to better understand and address healthcare providers' specific information needs when caring for WWD in the perinatal period. This project is important to promote perinatal healthcare equity, competent clinical care, and better clinical outcomes for WWD.