An Exploration into Unusual Thoughts following Childbirth
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Exploration into Unusual Thoughts following Childbirth
IRAS ID
159735
Contact name
Sherell Calame
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 0 days
Research summary
The aim of the research is to explore unusual thought content in the early postpartum. The term ‘unusual’ thoughts’ refers to thoughts that mothers might find confusing, unexpected,frightening or difficult to make sense of.
Previous research suggests that the postpartum period for many can be encapsulated by profound change, a strong sense of loss, isolation and fatigue (Rogan et al 1996) and women without postnatal mental illness have reported negative, frightening and obsessive thoughts (Hall and Wittkowski 2006; Fairbrother and Woody 2008) during the postpartum. As the mind is striving to accommodate the experiences of childbirth and the transition to motherhood, we expect that thought content is likely to reflect the complex reality of this experience. Yet unusual or difficult thoughts can easily be labeled as indication of postnatal illness, hence greater clarity of the range of normal to abnormal thoughts in early motherhood will reduce patholigising women and allow maternal health care professionals to inform and reassure women.
Investigating whether mothers without postnatal illness experience unusual thoughts as an aspect of post birth psychological adjustment will be achieved via an online survey of mothers up to four months postpartum. It will survey their experience of unusual thoughts and measure potential contributing factors such as mood, anxiety levels and sleep disturbance by use of online questionnaires.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/YH/1277
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion