Non-birthing parent’s experience of recovery from PMH difficulties v2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative exploration of the non-birthing parent’s experience of recovery from mild to moderate Perinatal Mental Health difficulties
IRAS ID
346719
Contact name
Saoirse Smith
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) difficulties are those that happen from the time you become pregnant until one year post birth. They have been shown to have a significant impact on both mothers and their families. However, most of the available research focuses on the experience of the mother and does not consider the needs of the parent who did not carry/ give birth to the child. This is problematic, as we know that non-birthing parents do experience PMH difficulties and that this can have a number of negative consequences for both them and their families.
Though there is a limited amount of research exploring the experience of PMH in non-birthing parents, there is very little insight into the experience of recovery from such difficulties. Given the lack of research, it seems pertinent to explore these individuals' experience of recovery from PMH difficulties independently. As such, the proposed study aims to interview parents who did not give birth to their child about their experience of PMH difficulties, focusing specifically on what helped them to recover from these difficulties. The research will do this by completing approximately 6-10 interviews with non-birthing parents who have experienced mild to moderate PMH difficulties within the last 5-years. Each interview will be recorded and transcribed before exploring the meaning these that individuals have assigned to their lived experience.
It is hoped that this study will add to the growing literature around the non-birthing parent’s experience of PMH difficulties and support our understanding of how best to support recovery in these individuals.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/YH/0005
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jan 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion