Digital Assessment of Wellbeing in New Parents (DAWN-P)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Digital Assessment of Wellbeing in New Parents (DAWN-P) longitudinal feasibility study
IRAS ID
274007
Contact name
Clare Tower
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 1 days
Research summary
The mental health of new parents around the time of the birth of their baby has been identified as a key priority in the NHS Long Term plan. At present, there is no nationally implemented method for monitoring parents’ mental health, although the use of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) has been recommended. This is a paper-based questionnaire administered by health visitors in the postnatal period. For the purposes of this project, we contacted health visitors in Manchester to find out how they use EPDS in practice. Currently, health visitors only use the questionnaire if they feel there is a need during visits, and the questionnaire is not kept (only the overall score). Since almost 20% of mums develop postnatal depression, more systematic and thorough screening is needed.
We developed a smartphone app version of the EPDS which takes less than 2 minutes to complete. We anticipate that this will be a more accessible and practical method of conducting this important assessment. This project is a feasibility study to find out whether an app is an acceptable way to monitor perinatal mental health in women and their partners, recruited from St Mary’s Hospital. We aim to recruit 20 women in late pregnancy (after 36 weeks gestation), and their partners, and ask them to use the app. The app will prompt completion of the EPDS once per day until 6 weeks postnatally. Participants’ responses on the app will be transferred to a secure server at the University of Manchester. Participants will be invited to complete a paper version of the EPDS at the beginning and end of the study. This will be compared with the app-based version. They will also be asked to complete a questionnaire measuring the acceptability of the app and to take part in a brief interview.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0763
Date of REC Opinion
20 Dec 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion