Evaluation of PrePare

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Realist evaluation of ‘PrePare’ - an integrated multidisciplinary service for pregnant women with problem alcohol and drug use in Lothian.

• IRAS ID

  249782

• Contact name

  Alix Aitken-Arbuckle

• Contact email

  alix.aitken-arbuckle@napier.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Edinburgh Napier University

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 11 months, 8 days

• Research summary

  PrePare is an Edinburgh based multidisciplinary (MDT) co-located service for pregnant women with problem alcohol and drug use. The service has been established in Edinburgh since 2006, changing over time depending on funding opportunities. The service consists of practitioners from maternity, social work, addiction, child and mental health services who offer pregnancy and health care, drug counselling and social support in one building. The aim of the service is to improve outcomes by engaging women, commencing treatment for alcohol or drug problems, improving social stability and healthy life styles. PrePare is based on recommendations by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2010) but the research informing these recommendations was mainly carried out in America, Canada and Australia where culture, social care and health services are different. This means that such programmes may not have the same results in Scotland.
  This study is a realist evaluation of the PrePare service and will aim to understand how and in what ways PrePare improves outcomes for pregnant women and their babies. The study will involve practitioners and women and will be conducted at the PrePare team base. Practitioners will be invited to one-to-one semi-structured interviews and pregnant women currently under the PrePare service will be invited to attend either a focus group or one-to-one interview (their choice). The researcher also aims to include 2-3 case studies by following up women from early pregnancy until after their baby’s birth. Women will be able to choose to take part in this or a single interview. Topic guides will be used during the interviews and these will aim to explore what does or doesn’t work for individuals, how women and practitioners engage with the services and how women feel the service affects them. All interviews will be audio-recorded with consent from participants.

• REC name

  South East Scotland REC 02

• REC reference

  19/SS/0045

• Date of REC Opinion

  22 Mar 2019

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion