Pieta Shakes

Through her developing program of research and service, Dr Pieta Shakes aims to address critical gaps in Australia’s evidence base, health policy, and care pathways for parents who receive unexpected news about the health, development, or genetics of their unborn baby. By applying systems thinking and building workforce capability and support, she works to embed timely, skilled psychosocial care as a standard part of practice, recognising the well-documented acute and enduring psychosocial consequences of fetal diagnosis on parents and families. Pieta's clinical career as a mental health nurse and her lived experience of receiving a third-trimester prenatal diagnosis inspire her vision for a health system where psychosocial support is embedded in care as standard, reducing harm and fostering adaptation for families.

Pieta's PhD surfaced the profound experience of pregnancy after a prenatal diagnosis of a rare and ambiguous neurological anomaly, agenesis of the corpus callosum. As an early-career researcher, Pieta has gained experience leading and supporting research projects that have utilised different methodologies and methods, including hermeneutic phenomenology, discourse analysis, reflexive thematic analysis, survey research, case study research, co-design and co-production. 

Pieta has postgraduate qualifications in mental health nursing, child and adolescent mental health, applied statistics, diagnostic genomics, and higher education innovative teaching and learning, and was previously CHIA-credentialed. She is now completing a Master of Health Policy and Planning. 

As the founder and Executive Director of Through the Unexpected, and the co-Chair of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand Perinatal Ethics Committee, and a founding member of the Consortium on Parental Experiences and Psychological Distress following Prenatal Diagnosis (COPD-PD), Pieta connects with a wide range of stakeholders across the perinatal care landscape. With a focus on research translation and implementation, Pieta frequently offers consultation to services wishing to improve care for parents who receive a prenatal diagnosis, prepares parliamentary submissions, collaborates on guidelines and speaks at events.

As a full-time Teaching and Research Academic and Course Coordinator for the Master of Nursing and its nested suite, Pieta designs and delivers postgraduate nursing education dedicated to nurturing curiosity and examining routines and information through a critical lens. Alongside this work, Pieta collaboratively developed a national microcredential program related to digital health for rural and remote care. She is also currently leading a project to co-design the first Australian multidisciplinary microcredential program on the psychosocial aspects of fetal diagnosis, which builds upon transformative, constructivist and critical learning theories.

Patient experience, genomics and nursing, prenatal screening and diagnosis, online education, innovative teaching, student-centred teaching, equity and diversity in nursing, neurodevelopmental differences, hermeneutic phenomenology, discourse analysis, agenesis of the corpus callosum, rare conditions and mental health