Barriers and facilitators of infant (baby) massage engagement
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Experiences of infant (baby) massage engagement for mothers experiencing mental health difficulties.
IRAS ID
370014
Contact name
Paula D Trotter
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Liverpool John Moores University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 22 days
Research summary
Globally, 13% of women experience a mental health condition after giving birth. This year, the Royal College of Psychiatrists reported record numbers of women are receiving specialist perinatal mental health treatment, with numbers increasing by over a third since 2022 in NHS England alone.
Most UK NHS Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services (SPMHS) offer infant massage courses, however current infant massage curricula are not specifically tailored for those experiencing mental health conditions. While SPMHS practitioners individualise infant-massage delivery to the needs of their patients, this is currently without an evidence-base regarding mechanism of action or which components are particularly necessary or important, and without specific guidelines for how to best deliver the infant massage course to optimise outcomes for these mothers and their infants.
This project therefore aims to understand the experiences of both mothers completing infant massage courses while experiencing mental health conditions, and infant massage instructors delivering these courses, as a first step in developing an infant massage delivery approach tailored for caregivers experiencing mental health conditions.
We aim to carry out four focus groups – two for mothers who have taken part in an infant massage course while experiencing mental health difficulties and two for infant massage instructors, including those who have delivered infant massage courses to caregivers with mental health difficulties. We also aim to use these focus groups to begin to co-design our next study, which will investigate this topic in more depth, with the ultimate aim of tailoring infant massage delivery for mental health conditions to maximise benefits for caregivers and their infants. Focus groups will be 1 hour, followed by a break, then an additional, 25 minutes of discussing our external grant proposal at the end of the session. Each focus group member will take part in one focus group. Finally, we will invite all focus group members to a 1-hour collective debrief, where we will discuss focus group outcomes with our collaborators – Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (NHS Foundation Trust) Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service and Koala North West to improve infant massage delivery within their services.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/NW/0151
Date of REC Opinion
31 May 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion