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Cynthia Pearl Pitter

UWI School of Nursing, Mona, Jamaica

Cynthia Pearl Pitter

Cynthia Pearl Pitter, PhD, MScN, RM, RN
Société coopérative médicale de Beaulieu scholarship
cynthia.pitter02@uwimona.edu.jm

In 2011, Cynthia Pearl Pitter became intrigued by the lack of data on household and institutional silence on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) during pregnancy. It was an observation that influenced her PhD on the Challenges and Opportunities to reduce Gender Based Violence (GBV) during Pregnancy. “I believe that both the pregnant woman and her midwife should be equipped to raise and care for the next generation free from violence. However, I find it remarkable that the approach to GBV in maternity care is undefined or loose in Jamaica.”

Dr. Pitter is a Jamaican nurse/midwife and gender specialist with a PhD in Gender & Development Studies, from UWI. She lectures and coordinators the MSc Nursing programme at the UWI School of Nursing, Mona. She is a trainer-of-trainers, researcher and publisher on women's health, GBV, respectful maternity care, fatherhood as well as competency-based education for midwives. 

Her educational background includes having a MScN in Nursing Education and Advanced Cert. Nursing Administration from UWI. She is a graduate Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife from the University Hospital of the West Indies. Her PhD work has corrected the gaps in preparing nurses/midwives to be more responsive to women experiencing GBV during pregnancy. She has successfully led the UWI/Faculty of Medical Sciences, the UNFPA, the European Union Spotlight Initiative, Jamaica, in strengthening/integrating violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the nursing and medical programmes at UWI. She was recently added to the WHO, HQ roster as a trainer and researcher to assist with the mitigation of VAWG around the world.

She is a trained Sexual and Reproductive Health Researcher and a member/scholarship recipient of the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, WHO, HQ, Switzerland. She is a 2018 awardee of The Erasmus+ Staff Mobilty Fund from Birmingham City University, UK. A former writer for the National Council Licensure Examinations (NCLEX). She is a reviewer for the Virtual International Day of the Midwife, International Confederation of Midwives, Sigma Theta Tau Nursing International conferences, and the International Journal of Childbirth. She is an editor for the Iranian-based International Journal of Community Nursing and Midwifery.

Dr. Pitter is a former board member of the Nursing Council of Jamaica and the Caribbean Regional Midwives Association. She coordinates the Young Midwifery Leadership programme in the English-speaking Caribbean, an International Confederation Midwives initiative and is a member of the Omega Kappa Honour Society of Nurses.

She is a Kiwanis and board member for the Institute for Gender & Development Studies, UWI Mona and is a newly recruited counselor for the Jamaica Constabulary Force Domestic Violence Care Centre. She has volunteered at the Women Incorporation and serves as a director at the Jamaica Family Planning Association.

She is currently working on a book project in which she has galvanized midwives from the Region to unite in writing the first midwifery textbook for The Caribbean Community. She is the midwifery representative for the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Midwifery in the Caribbean at the UWI, Mona. She is on a mission to use the human rights framework to inspire nursing and midwifery students to safeguard, respect and actively promote people's health rights at all times and in all places.

Publications

Book chapter

  • Pitter, C. P., Hewitt, H., McWhinney-Dehaney, L., Williams, D., & Vassell-Murray, I. (2019). Blooms and Mushrooms: Midwifery Experience in Jamaica. In Starting Life as a Midwife (pp. 141-153). Springer, Cham.

Journal articles

  1. Pitter, C., Pitter, G., Udoudo, D., Longmore Carridice, J. Telenursing: Unlocked potential in Jamaica’s COVID-19 response. WHO CC Links Magazine June 2022
  2. Pitter, C. (2021). Responding to violence against women and girls in Jamaica: Mainstreaming gender in the health sector. In the UN Jamaica Partnership for peace, planet and prosperity. The 76th Anniversary Special Feature of the United Nations in Jamaica.  
  3. Pitter, C., Emanuel-Frith, M., Pitter, G., & Udoudo, D. (2020). Bridging the Gap: Supporting the Inclusion of More Fathers in Maternity Centers in Jamaica. International Journal of Childbirth Volume 10, Number 3, pages 162-166, doi:10.1891/IJCBIRTH-D-20-00014
  4. Emanuel-Frith, M., Pitter, C., & Agu, C. (June 2020). Nursing students’ attitude towards teenage pregnancy in an undergraduate nursing programme. The International Journal of Childbirth
  5. Udoudo, D., Pitter, C., & Agu, C. (June 2020). The use of Herbal Remedies among Breastfeeding Mothers: A Cross-sectional Study Among Women Visiting Public Health Facilities in Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica. The International Journal of Childbirth
  6. Pitter, C., & Dunn, L. (2017). Profiling pregnant women exposed to domestic violence in Jamaica. The International Journal of Childbirth, December 2017
  7. Agu, C., Rae, T., & Pitter, C. (2017).  Attitude towards teenage pregnancy and motherhood among midwives at specialty hospital, Jamaica. The International Journal of Nursing, December 2017.
  8. Pitter, C., Latibeaudierre, S., Rae, T., & Owens, L. (2017). Disrespectful Maternity Care: A Threat to the Maternal Health 2030 Agenda in Jamaica. International Journal of Women’s Health and Wellness: volume 3, issue 3, open access doi: 10.23937/2474-1353/1510057
  9. Pitter C., (2016). Midwives’ knowledge and attitudes when encountering Gender-Based Violence in their practice at a maternity-hospital in Kingston, Jamaica. The International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health Wellbeing. Volume 11 February (2016) Impact Factor 1.49
  10. Brown-Forrester, A., Barton-Gooden, A., Pitter, C., & Lindo, J., (2015). The lived experiences of adolescents with sickle cell disease in Kingston, Jamaica. The International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health Wellbeing. 10:28104 · September 2015. Impact Factor 1.49
  11. Pitter, C., & Dunn, L., (2014). Challenges and Opportunities for Midwives to reduce Gender-Based Violence among pregnant women: The Experience from two Jamaican hospitals in the Kingston Metropolitan Area. The Clute Institute International Academic Conference January 1 - 4, 2014 in Orlando, Florida (USA) Conference Proceedings. 1539-8757; 2157-9660 (online) June 2014.

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