Maternal health is an important aspect of the lives of childbearing and mothering women. There are many within the maternity care services in Ireland who work hard to create conditions where all those who access the services feel safe, supported and cared for. Sadly this is often not the case and some women find aspects of the services provided are inaccessible (for a variety of reasons) and unwelcoming when people do choose to engage. There can be many factors for this including the busyness of staff, the acuteness of the settings and the failure of Irish healthcare services to adapt to the changing demographics of our society.
This research sets out to inquire into this phenomenon in more detail with a particular focus on the experiences of Muslim women in Irish maternity settings.