Ms. Jean Rooney

Jean's research interests are grounded in midwifery-led models of care, maternity service implementation, and midwifery education. She is particularly interested in how evidence-based interventions are implemented in real-world healthcare contexts, and in understanding the mechanisms that enable or constrain effective postnatal support for women and families in the community. She is an active member of the Trinity Centre for Maternity Care Research, contributing to the school's broader research community since taking up her academic post.

Jean has two peer-reviewed publications to date. These include a practice-focused article published in World of Irish Nursing and Midwifery (2023) and a piece published on the All4Maternity platform (2023), a widely read international midwifery resource. This work was also recognised at the All Ireland Midwifery Conference (2022), where a poster presentation on the initiative was awarded second place.

Jean recently completed a JBI systematic review examining the experiences of newly qualified midwives in formal support programmes during their transition to clinical practice, findings from which she presented at the THEConf26.

Jean is currently a part-time PhD student at Trinity College Dublin, supervised by Dr. Vivienne Brady (TCD) and Dr Brynne Gilmore (UCD). Her doctoral research examines the implementation of community-based postnatal hubs in high-income countries, with a focus on understanding what works, for whom, and in what circumstances. The study employs realist evaluation methodology, which is particularly suited to the complexity of health service implementation. Jean is currently at the protocol and proposal stage of her PhD, with a scoping review in development as a foundational component of the research.

Jean is also involved in a research project within the team to evaluate the impact of breastfeeding artwork on staff and students attitude towards breastfeeding. This project currently is at the data analysis phase.