Jenny Parratt - a midwife

Congratulations to Jenny Parratt, a midwife who lives in Mandurang Victoria, who is a founding member of Midwives in Private Practice (MiPP)

Professor Kathleen Fahy of the University of Newcastle (NSW), writes "I am thrilled to announce that Jenny Parratt has been awarded her PhD after examination with no correction and high praise. Her oversees examiners were in the UK, Professor Mavis Kirkham and A/Prof Dennis Walsh (very eminent in midwifery)."


FEELING LIKE A GENIUS: ENHANCING WOMEN'S CHANGING EMBODIED SELF DURING FIRST CHILDBEARING
Jenny writes:
My dissertation is focused on women's holistic wellbeing in terms of their changing embodied sense of self. It considers the way a woman's embodied sense of self changes during the childbearing period and the factors in childbirth that seem to be positively related to her improved sense of self.

Fourteen women answered questionnaires and told their stories of childbearing change; these stories have now been published (details below).

In the dissertation I establish how a person's embodied self is complex and continually changing relative to the various contexts of existence. I show how a woman's improved sense of self is related to the degree to which she is able to feel herself as an embodied whole and intrinsically powerful person. I use the concept 'genius change' to represent a woman's active and effortful use of intrinsic power, in addition to her developing trust in that power. The dissertation explains how midwifery factors that are unsupportive of a woman's improved sense of self, called 'habitual practices', undermine a woman's sense of her own power and encourage reliance on her usual responses to change. 'Empowering practices' are shown to be positively related to a woman's improved sense of self. These practices guide a woman to connect with and actualise her intrinsic power in new and previously unanticipated ways. The dissertation is significant for midwifery practice and education because it makes explicit how a midwife can optimise a woman's psychophysiological wellbeing in ways that uniquely suit the diverse requirements of each woman.

The women's stories are published as 'Parratt, J. (2009). Feelings of
change: Stories of having a baby. Raleigh: Lulu.com'. This book is available
from:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/feelings-of-change-stories-of-hav
ing-a-baby/7846284