Who are 'Consumers'?

The Cochrane Collaboration defines a consumer as: someone who uses, is affected by, or who is entitled to use a health related service; a relative or carer; or someone who advocates on behalf of broader group of people.

For Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth, we are looking for input from women who are mothers and have experienced birth or pregnancy.  For some topics, we are also seeking input from men who are fathers and from people who support women during pregnancy and childbirth.

Why we want consumer involvement? 

Input from consumers or consumer representatives aims to ensure that women’s and parents' perspectives are taken into account when review questions are being decided and results presented. It is crucial that research answers the questions that are important to women and families.  

How can consumers get involved? 

Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth maintains an international panel of consumers because Cochrane reviews should be relevant to people worldwide.    

Members of our consumer panel are invited to comment on our Group's protocols (ie plans for the reviews), and the subsequent reviews, as part of our editorial process, prior to publication.

We currently have three regional consumer co-ordinators, Gill Gyte (UK), Dell Horey (Australasia), and Carol Sakala (USA), who have kindly volunteered to continue to identify consumer representatives/consumers in their regions for our consumer panel and provide them with support. Click here to download a brochure about our consumer panel.

If you would like to join our international panel of consumers please contact the Acting Managing Editor, Leanne Jones (l.v.jones@liverpool.ac.uk).