Family Planning: The Lived Experience Through Art

The University of Wolverhampton is pleased to host this exhibition as part of a research project investigating the lived experience of family planning for women living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and their partners.

The project has explored experiences through the different phases of the reproductive journey: preparing to start a family; being pregnant; and after having a child. It has also reflected women who do not want to have children. Researchers have worked to take insights and findings and use them in a way to support other women living with IBD (and their partners) and the healthcare professionals who provide the support and guidance to them.

The research team recruited four artists: Sorrel Milne (animator); Jessica Butcher (illustrator); Rae Francis (graphic designer) and Paul Stringer (documentary filmmaker).

These artists were provided with IBD information from the healthcare professionals, the anonymised transcripts of the women interviewed and guidance from Crohn’s & Colitis UK to form their artistic concepts and final interpretations.  Three of the artists have created engaging pieces of work based on their interpretation of academic research data. The documentary maker has captured the whole project, this being the initial aims of the research and particularly the thought processes of the artists and how they "saw" and/or imagined the stories of the women and their partners visually.

The project was funded by Crohn’s and Colitis UK Research.

To find out more visit: https://crohnsandcolitis.org.uk

The Research Team:

• Maggie Ayliffe, Head of the Wolverhampton School of Art. Research interests aim to explore new sites of social and formal collision through painting and Fine Art pedagogies within the contemporary Higher Education.
• Professor Matthew Brookes, clinical Gastroenterologist at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.  Main areas of research interest remain in the field of cellular iron metabolism, colorectal cancer, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and more recently the role of intravenous iron therapy in managing pre-operative anaemia.
• Rebecca Homer, Phd researcher at the University of Wolverhampton. Research interests centre on health psychology and reproductive health; impact of chronic illness on reproductive/sexual health; the importance of a genetic link; motherhood and parenthood.
• Scott Knight, Business Development Manager at the University of Wolverhampton. Expertise is in Arts, Design, Culture, History, Heritage, and Knowledge Transfer. Works on numerous projects including arts and health projects such as this with our local NHS Trusts and wider community partners.
• Dr Satvinder Purewal, research interests centre on health psychology and reproductive and sexual health; infertility and infertility treatment; impact of chronic illness on reproductive/sexual health; gamete donation and surrogacy; the importance of a genetic link; ethnicity; motherhood/parenthood; Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Prospect Theory.
• Helen Sargeant, focus is on the identification, generation and management of external and commercial income, Knowledge Exchange activity and project delivery and management within the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences. Works on numerous projects including arts and health projects such as this with our local NHS Trusts and wider community partners. 
• Dr Christian Selinger works in gastrointestinal medicine. His research into Inflammatory Bowel Disease led to the award of an MD (Doctor of Medicine) from the University of Manchester. Christian is widely published with over 40 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and over 60 conference presentations. His research expertise lies within Gastroenterology, especially inflammatory bowel disease and endoscopy. 
• Professor Helen Steed, consultant Gastroenterologist at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust. Clinically her interests are in inflammatory bowel disease and nutrition. She has an interest in IBD and art related research and was involved in the development and exhibition of Living in Silence - artistic representations of South Asian women's experiences on living with IBD.
• Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan & Dr Sarah Chapman each have research interest in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Dr Czuber-Dochan research interests are in the area of fatigue in IBD, patient self-management, developing and improving quality of nursing care, skill-mix and advanced role. Particularly interested in using mixed methods in advancing nursing knowledge and practice.