“My Data Story”

Missing data in maternity records is often treated as a technical nuisance or marker of poor data quality. However, growing evidence suggests these data gaps are not random but rather socially patterned - reflecting imbalances of power, exclusion from care, discrimination, digital exclusion, and structural obstacles to equitable participation in healthcare. When data is not missing at random, conventional analytic approaches (e.g. complete case approaches) risk systematically excluding already under-represented groups, distorting findings and perpetuating inequality in maternity services and research.

This project collaborates with women who report their lived experience of exclusion from maternity care to explore how cultural practices, system design, and digital technologies contribute to data gaps and how this affects visibility, belonging, and trust. We will disseminate these findings to practitioners and researchers to encourage greater critical reflection in relation to missing data in maternity records.

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