Stress and Wellbeing after Childbirth (STRAWB2)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Preventing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder : the Stress and\nWellbeing after Childbirth Study (STRAWB2) \n
IRAS ID
197902
Contact name
Pauline Slade
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN00032395
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Aim(s)\nTo prevent post traumatic stress after childbirth by midwives providing\npsychological self help material to women whose childbirth has been\ntraumatic.\nBackground\nExperiencing an event where a person feels their life or another’s life has\nbeen threatened can lead to post traumatic stress symptoms. These\ninvolve reliving the event, having nightmares and intrusive thoughts and\nimages. It leads to a person avoiding activities that can trigger reminders\nand feeling on edge and irritable. Feeling like this early postnatally at a\ntime when a woman is forming a relationship with her new baby is\nparticularly harmful. Not everyone who has a traumatic event develops\npost traumatic stress symptoms. These come about because the person\nhas been so distressed by their early responses to the traumatic event they\nhave avoided thinking and talking about them so the brain has been unable\nto process the unpleasant memories. Understanding what can be\ndistressing but normal responses and reacting to them in a way that can\nhelp the brain to make sense of these can help prevent post traumatic\nstress developing.\nDesign and methods\nMidwives will identify women who were highly fearful for themselves or\ntheir baby in childbirth. Half these women will be given the self help\nmaterial which includes mental exercises to manage any responses and\nhalf will have usual care. We will contact women a month later to assess\nhow many in each group have developed post traumatic stress symptoms.\nWe will also gain their views whether they have needed and used the\ninformation.\nPatient and public involvement\nThe study has been designed with detailed input from the Birth Trauma\nAssociation(BTA) and a local expert by experience.\nDissemination.\nInformation about effectiveness will be publicised by the BTA, fedback to\nmidwives, and staff responsible for perinatal mental health pathways\nacross the country.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0680
Date of REC Opinion
13 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion