Mothers experience of interacting with the NHS following birth trauma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How do mothers’ experiences of interactions with NHS staff during psychological birth trauma impact support seeking/interactions with NHS professionals following the traumatic birth event?
IRAS ID
340679
Contact name
Pete Lawrence
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 2 days
Research summary
Negative or traumatic experience of birth is a contributing factor to poorer maternal mental health, including increased levels of PTSD, anxiety, and depression (Bell et al., 2016; Ertan et al., 2021; Gürber et al., 2017; Simpson & Catling, 2016). Whilst steps have been taken to improve experiences of maternity and perinatal services during and after pregnancy, interactions with NHS staff can contribute to negative appraisal of birth experiences (Baxter, 2020; Patterson et al., 2019).
Following birth, there are multiple appointments to check in on the wellbeing of mother and baby (NHS England, 2020) these interactions with NHS professionals may serve as opportunities to repair relationships and overcome potential barriers to support seeking. This study seeks to gain an insight into women’s experiences of help seeking following a traumatic birth, to explore whether this is impacted by the quality of interaction with staff during the birth, and if so, how women feel these relationships can be repaired.
This research aims to recruit up to 20 mothers who identify as having experienced a psychologically traumatic birth to take part in an interview to help us to explore the following questions:
- How do mothers’ experiences of interactions with NHS staff during psychological birth trauma impact support seeking/interactions with NHS professionals following the traumatic birth event?
- Are there aspects of interactions during and immediately after birth which interrupt/facilitate support seeking in the months following birth?
- Can interactions with NHS professionals following the birth (e.g. health visitor appointments, health checks etc) support help seeking? If so, how?
The project is funded by the University of Southampton as part of the researchers work towards a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/LO/0810
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion