An exploration of psychological needs during pregnancy (version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What are the psychological needs of women experiencing distress during pregnancy: an exploration of women’s experiences through their voices.
IRAS ID
213728
Contact name
Alison C Reddish
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 4 days
Research summary
The aim of this project is to find out what the psychological needs are for women experiencing moderate-severe difficulties with their mental health during pregnancy and to consider what wellbeing is during pregnancy. Difficulties with mental health during pregnancy and postnatally are increasingly researched; however there appears to be a gap in understanding women’s experiences during pregnancy from their perspective. This project aims to find out women’s views of their experience via individual interviews. The project will be supported by the Perinatal Mental Health service within NHS Grampian and participants will be recruited via the service. Perinatal mental health staff will be asked to identify people who may be willing to participate and provide them with relevant information. Individual interviews will be conducted by the main researcher using a list of themes as talking points. Between 10-12 interviews will be completed. The interviews will be recorded using encrypted digital recorders. The researcher will listen to the recordings, type out what was discussed and will remove anything that could identify participants to ensure anonymity. The researcher will look for common themes throughout the interviews. Conclusions will be drawn from themes identified and this will be written up by the researcher for their doctoral thesis and with an aim to submitting a journal article for publishing. The findings will be shared via service user networks and locally within NHS Grampian. It is hoped that the results of this research will help the development of future services. A greater understanding of the needs of women accessing these services would lead to more person-centred service development resulting in more holistic and effective services.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
17/SS/0030
Date of REC Opinion
26 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion