Reflections on midwifery-led research by research midwives

The research midwives at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in collaboration with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), conducted a series of 55 staff and service user interviews for the ASPIRE (Achieving Safe and Personalised maternity care In Response to Epidemics) COVID-19 study. We fully engaged with this opportunity to lead on this valuable qualitative study. We experienced great learning opportunities to develop interview techniques, along with the challenges of using technology in new ways to complete the interviews remotely. As the first UK site to open, we developed our knowledge and skills quickly, and found new ways of working to inform our future work and share with research midwife colleagues. We reflect upon this experience in this article, which is the second in the ASPIRE study series. © 2021, All4Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.