Bereaved Mother’s Experiences of Breast Milk Donation After Baby Loss
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Investigation into Bereaved Mother’s Experiences of Breast Milk Donation After Baby Loss.
IRAS ID
339661
Contact name
Katie Robb
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Glasgow
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 12 days
Research summary
Losing a baby is a devastating event in a person’s life, and can be upsetting in lots of different ways. Some people have found different ways to try and cope with and process this loss, one of which is to find meaning in the loss of the baby. There is evidence to suggest that donating breast milk can be a really useful way to find meaning after the loss of a baby. Previous studies have shown that mothers can find it helpful to express breast milk, collect it, and donate it in memory of the baby they lost.
The study would like to find out more about what possible psychological benefits donating milk after loss might have. It would also be important to understand how a person’s family might impact the choices they make about donating breast milk, and ways to improve the process and services they used.
To understand more about these experiences this study will interview people directly who have used Memory Milk donation services. Participants will be asked a set of open questions about their experience. The study hopes to recruit between 4 and 8 people to take part in these interviews, which will be conducted either face to face or via video call. To do this, everyone who has used the Memory Milk Gift service to date will be contacted to see if they would be willing to take part.
It is hoped that the results of this study will be useful for the Memory Milk Gift service by providing recommendations for improving services. The researchers also hope to be able to publish the study results in an academic journal, to share the results with a wider audience. This may help increase milk donation and help babies in need of milk donations.REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
24/SS/0087
Date of REC Opinion
20 Dec 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion