Caesarean birth wound care: Share your experience and help improve care

We want to know what matters most about wound care after a caesarean birth.

About this research

What we're trying to understand:

  • We want to know what's most important to you about caring for wounds after a caesarean birth.

Who we want to hear from:

  • Women who have had one or more caesarean births
  • Women of all ages and backgrounds
  • Whether your caesarean was planned or emergency
  • No matter how long ago your caesarean was

What we’d like to know:

  • How your wound was cared for
  • What worked well and what didn't
  • What matters most to you about wound care
  • What support you received
  • Your experience with healing

Why this matters:

  • Your answers will help us understand how to improve wound care for women having caesarean births in the future. Your experience matters and can help other women.
Logos for PROMPTS maternity foundation, the University of Bristol, and Mölnlycke
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Before you start

Who can take part:

  • You must be 18 or over
  • You've had at least one caesarean birth
  • It doesn't matter how long ago your caesarean was

You will be asked about:

  • Your experience caring for your wound
  • What support you received
  • What's most important to you about wound care
  • A bit about you (age group, where you live, ethnic background) - all optional

Things to know:

  • You don't have to answer every question
  • You can stop at any time
  • You can take breaks (use the same device and browser)
  • All your information is kept private and secure. How we protect your information.
  • Support is available if you need it

Want updates? At the end, you can choose to give us your email if you want to:

  • Hear about the results
  • Learn about other similar research

Take part

This survey should take about 10 minutes to complete.

Close date: 26 November 2025

Please note that the survey takes about 10 seconds to load.

Project Team

This research is led by the University of Bristol working with the PROMPT Maternity Foundation.

A graphic of a person's head and shoulders in red.

Prof Tim Draycott

Consultant Obstetrician and Clinical Lead

The PROMPT Maternity Foundation

A graphic of a person's head and shoulders in red.

Dr Andy Demetri

Obstetrics and Gynaecology registrar and Research Fellow

University of Bristol

Got a question?

If you have had a difficult or upsetting caesarean birth or wound care experience and would like support, you can contact these organisations:

For questions about this research: help@thiscovery.org

Information for participants

For more information about this research, read the details below.

Who is running this research?

The research team:

  • University of Bristol - leading the research
  • PROMPT Maternity Foundation - a charity that researches maternity care
  • Mölnlycke Healthcare Ltd - a company that makes wound care products (they're funding this research)

Learn more about these organisations:

About Thiscovery: This survey is hosted on Thiscovery, a secure online platform for health research. Thiscovery is run by THIS Labs, an independent organisation that helps with health research.

Ethics approval: This research has been reviewed and approved by the University of Bristol Research Ethics Committee (reference number 25506).

What does taking part involve?

How to take part:

  1. Answer a quick question to check this research is right for you
  2. Complete a short consent form
  3. Complete the survey about your experiences and priorities
  4. Optionally, give us some basic information about you

The main survey asks you to:

  • Tell us about your experiences with wound care
  • Look at different statements about wound care (like "the wound covering is easy for me to change myself")
  • Choose which ones are most and least important to you

Do I have to answer all questions? No. You can skip any questions you don't want to answer. But answering more questions gives us better information about what women think.

How long does it take? About 10 minutes. But you can take as long as you need.

Can I take breaks? Yes. Your answers are saved as you go. Use the same device and browser to continue where you left off.

Can someone help me? Yes. A family member or friend can help you use the website or read questions. But please give your own answers, not theirs.

Is there a deadline? Yes. The deadline is 26 November 2025.

Can I change my mind? Yes. You can stop taking part at any time without giving a reason. Email help@thiscovery.org if you want to withdraw.

Benefits and risks

Benefits of taking part:

  • Share what's important to you about wound care
  • Help improve care for other women in the future
  • Your voice will be heard on something that often gets overlooked
  • Help make wound care better for future mothers

Possible risks:

  • Talking about your caesarean birth experience might bring up difficult feelings
  • You can stop at any time if you feel upset
  • You don't have to answer questions that make you uncomfortable
  • Support is available if you need it

If you need support:

What happens to your answers?

How we use your answers:

  • We combine everyone's answers to understand what people think
  • We use this information to help improve wound care
  • We might publish the results in reports or medical journals
  • Nobody will be able to identify you in anything we publish
  • Results may help develop better wound care approaches

How you can learn about the results: If you give us your email address, we'll send you a summary of what we found.

How we protect your information

Your privacy matters to us

Your privacy is important to the University of Bristol, the PROMPT Maternity Foundation and our team here at Thiscovery. We keep your information safe and secure.

This research will help us understand what matters most about wound care after a caesarean birth.

Who is collecting your information?

The University of Bristol and the PROMPT Maternity Foundation have asked us to do this research. They want to help improve care for women and possibly develop better wound care products.

Thiscovery collects your survey answers for University of Bristol and the PROMPT Maternity Foundation. We follow strict rules to keep your information safe.

What information will we collect?

Your answers about:

  • Your caesarean birth(s) and treatment of your wound
  • Your experiences of caring for your wound following your caesarean birth
  • What’s most important to you when it comes to caesarean wound experiences, after care and healing

Information about you:

  • Your age group
  • Your ethnic background (this is “special category” data that gets extra protection)
  • The region of the UK you live in

Your contact details (optional):

  • Your name and email address
  • Only if you want updates about the research results or to find out about future relevant projects

Important: We don't collect your name during the survey. But the mix of information you give us might make it possible to work out who you are.

Right to withdraw: You can stop taking part at any time and choose not to answer any questions.

University Research Ethics and data protection: This research is conducted in accordance with ethical research standards and UK data protection laws.

Why can we use your information?

For your survey answers: We need this so the University of Bristol can do research that helps improve healthcare for everyone.

For special category data (health and ethnicity): We need health information to understand the experiences of women who have had a caesarean birth and how this may affect what’s most important to women. We need to understand how ethnic background affects women’s experience and priorities.

For your contact details: Only if you choose to give them to us. You can change your mind at any time.

How will we keep your information safe?

We keep things separate:

  • Your contact details are kept separate from your survey answers
  • Your survey answers use a number instead of your name
  • This means we cannot link your name to your answers

We use secure systems:

  • All information is encrypted (scrambled) and stored safely
  • Only the research team can see your information
  • We follow University Research Ethics security rules
  • We use certified deletion tools when we remove data

Data analysis and transfer:

  • Thiscovery will first look at your survey answers and write a report for the University of Bristol and the PROMPT Maternity Foundation.
  • After completing the analysis, Thiscovery will securely transfer your survey answers (with your name removed) to the University of Bristol only.
  • The University of Bristol wants to keep this data for the research team conducting the project to do further analysis.
  • Once University of Bristol confirms they have received the data safely and all necessary checks have been made, Thiscovery will delete their copy.
  • Your contact details are transferred separately if you choose to provide them.

Important: Sending information over the internet is never 100% safe. We do our best to protect it, but we cannot promise complete security.

How will the University of Bristol and the PROMPT Maternity Foundation use your answers?

Further analysis by the University of Bristol

The University of Bristol will use your survey data for analysis by the research team conducting this research to:

  • Understand experiences and priorities of the women and healthcare professionals who have taken part, and to look at differences between different groups of people's data.
  • Write reports and articles about what they found.
  • Inform the improvement approaches of care for women who have had a caesarean birth and the potential development of new wound care technologies.

Your answers will be mixed with everyone else's answers. No one will be able to tell which answers are yours.

The PROMPT Maternity Foundation:

  • The PROMPT Maternity Foundation will not receive any of your data directly but will be given a copy of the Thiscovery Insight report.
  • They will also work with the University of Bristol to write up the analysis in academic outputs.

Mölnlycke Healthcare Limited:

  • Mölnlycke Healthcare Limited (the funder) will not receive any of your data directly but will be given a copy of the Thiscovery Insight report and any academic outputs published by the University of Bristol.
  • Mölnlycke will use the report and academic outputs to inform the potential development of new wound care technologies.

Who will we share your information with?

We will share your data with:

  • University of Bristol (who asked for this research)

We will not share your data with:

  • The PROMPT Maternity Foundation
  • Mölnlycke Healthcare Limited

If you give us your contact details, only Thiscovery or University of Bristol will contact you about the research.

How long will we keep your information?

Your survey answers:

  • Thiscovery keeps them for 24 months after the project ends
  • University of Bristol keeps them for ongoing analysis for 5 years

Your contact details:

  • Deleted immediately if you ask us to remove them
  • Deleted when you haven't been active for 24 months

Research summaries: May be kept forever to help inform improved approaches to care and the potential development of new wound technologies (but these won't identify you).

Your choices and rights

You can:

  • Stop taking part at any time during the survey
  • Skip questions you don't want to answer
  • Ask to see what information we have about you
  • Ask us to correct wrong information
  • Ask us to delete your contact details (we will do this immediately)
  • Complain if you're not happy

Important:

  • If you don't give us your contact details, we might not be able to remove your survey answers later. This is because we won't know which answers are yours.
  • Once we transfer your survey data to the University of Bristol we cannot get it back or delete it from their systems.
  • University of Bristol will use your data for ongoing research analysis, which may limit their ability to delete individual responses.

Your healthcare will not be affected by taking part or not taking part in this research.

Research results

If you give us your contact details, Thiscovery and the University of Bristol will tell you:

  • What the research found out
  • How they are using it to inform improved approaches to care and the potential new development of wound care technologies

Contact us

Questions about the survey: Email Thiscovery at help@thiscovery.org

Questions about how University of Bristol uses information:  

University's Data Protection Officer at data-protection@bristol.ac.uk

Complaints: if you have any concerns and you would like to contact someone independent of the study, please contact research-governance@bristol.ac.uk

Your consent

By taking part in this survey, you agree that:

  • The University of Bristol can use your answers to undertake this research in Caesarean birth wound care
  • Thiscovery can collect your answers for the University of Bristol and the PROMPT Maternity Foundation
  • You understand your information will be shared with the University of Bristol

You can stop taking part at any time.

Thank you for helping us understand women's experiences and priorities for caesarean wound after care and healing.

Data security
Thiscovery takes the security of your information seriously. Thiscovery's privacy policy describes the way information is collected, used, and protected to ensure that your data is safe.