Frankie Fair MSc, BMedSci, BSc, RM

I returned to the University of Sheffield to study Midwifery, becoming registered as a midwife in 2009. I have continued to work as a clinical midwife since 2009. In 2012 I was awarded with a Masters in Clinical Research from the University of Sheffield. I contribute to Midwifery education, particularly the Midwifery Research and Evidence module, by teaching and the supervision of students.

Department of Nursing and Midwifery

Health And Wellbeing

Midwifery Research and Evidence

My areas of research include obesity, breastfeeding, migrant women and midwife led care. I have been working alongside numerous NHS Trusts including Sheffield, Doncaster and Barnsley and presented at several international conferences.

Ongoing and recently completed projects:

Migrant Maternity Care: "ORAMMA: Operational Refugee And Migrant Maternal Approach", [Collaborative research in partnership with Greece, UK, Netherlands]

Exploring maternal healthy weight provision in England

Determining the scale of malnutrition and obesity in pregnancy in Indonesia, and assessing the impact of both BMI and maternal weight gain in pregnancy on maternal and neonatal health outcomes during the antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum periods.

Evaluating the impact of a maternal obesity service on antenatal, intrapartum and long term outcomes.

Pelvic girdle in pregnancy - evaluating the acceptability of pelvic support garments to women.

Promoting Midwifery Led Care (MLC) for low risk women, including providing online evidence based information for maternity service users, alongside case studies of women who have had either a home birth or a birth in the Midwife Led Unit at the Jessop Wing. The project also featured online surveys exploring women's experiences of accessing information when choosing where to have their baby, and health professionals' experiences of providing such information.

Caesarean Section and wound infection - a pilot study to determine the feasibility of thermal imaging of a Caesarean Section wound to determine infection risk.

Working alongside the Technical Officer for Midwifery in the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health at the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop a technical report of a preliminary meeting of experts to develop WHO Guidance on how to implement quality of care in midwifery services. This Guidance aims to provide measurable quality of care standards in midwifery services and guidance on how to implement them.

The above projects have received funding from a range of sources including the European Commission 3rd Health Programme, Public Health England, CLAHRC-SY, the British Council and the Burdett Trust for Nursing

Promoting Midwifery Led Care (MLC) for low risk women, including providing online evidence based information for maternity service users, alongside case studies of women who have had either a home birth or a birth in the Midwife Led Unit at the Jessop Wing. The project also featured online surveys exploring women's experiences of accessing information when choosing where to have their baby, and health professionals' experiences of providing such information.

Caesarean Section and wound infection - a pilot study to determine the feasibility of thermal imaging of a Caesarean Section wound to determine infection risk.

Working alongside the Technical Officer for Midwifery in the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health at the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop a technical report of a preliminary meeting of experts to develop WHO Guidance on how to implement quality of care in midwifery services. This Guidance aims to provide measurable quality of care standards in midwifery services and guidance on how to implement them.

The above projects have received funding from a range of sources including CLAHRC-SY, the British Council and the Burdett Trust for Nursing

Journal articles

Fair, F., Raben, L., Watson, H., Vivilaki, V., van den Muijsenbergh, M., Soltani, H., & the ORAMMA team, (2020). Migrant women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and maternity care in European countries: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 15 (2), e0228378. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228378

Fair, F., Ford, G., & Soltani, H. (2019). Interventions for supporting the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding among women who are overweight or obese. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. http://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012099.pub2%EF%82%8E

Fair, F., Watson, H., Gardner, R., & Soltani, H. (2018). Women’s perspectives on antenatal breast expression: a cross-sectional survey. Reproductive Health, 15 (58). http://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-018-0497-4

Soltani, H., Lipoeto, N., Fair, F., Kilner, K., & Yustawati, Y. (2017). Pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain and their effects on pregnancy and birth outcomes: a cohortstudy in West Sumatra, Indonesia. BMC Women's Health, 17 (102), 1-9. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-017-0455-2

Childs, C., Siraj, M.R., Fair, F., Selvan, A., Soltani, H., Wilmott, J., & Farrell, R. (2016). Thermal territories of the abdomen after Caesarean Section birth : infrared thermography and analysis. Journal of wound care, 25 (9), 499-512. http://doi.org/10.12968/jowc.2016.25.9.499

Soltani, H., & Fair, F. (2016). Interventions for supporting the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding among women who are overweight or obese. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2016 (2), CD012099. http://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012099

Soltani, H., Arden, M., Duxbury, A., & Fair, F. (2016). An analysis of behaviour change techniques used in a sample of gestational weight management trials. Journal of Pregnancy, 2016, 1085916. http://doi.org/10.1155/2016/1085916

Soltani, H., Fair, F., & Hakimi, S. (2015). Reduction in global maternal mortality rate 1990–2012 : Iran as a case example. Midwifery, 31 (2), 271-273. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2014.11.009

Soltani, H., Fair, F., & Duxbury, A. (2014). Exploring health professionals’ and women's awareness of models of maternity care evidence. British Journal of Midwifery, 23 (1), 22-31. http://doi.org/10.12968/bjom.2015.23.1.22

Conference papers

Soltani, H., Fair, F., Watson, H., Raben, L., & Van den Muijsenbergh, M. (2018). Migrant women's experiences of perinatal care in European countries: a systematic review. European Journal of Public Health, 28 (Supp 1). http://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cky047.147