Surviving Crying CBT Study V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of evidence-based health visitor services to support the mental health and coping of parents with excessively crying babies.
IRAS ID
289175
Contact name
Jayne Brown
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
De Montfort University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Background
Around a fifth of infants cry a lot without apparent reason during the first four postnatal months. This ‘excessive’ infant crying is often called ‘colic’. Evidence shows that only 5% of infants taken to the doctor because of excessive crying are unwell. However, the crying can lead to maternal depression, poor parent-child relationships, problems with child development, and infant abuse in extreme cases. By developing NHS services that support these parents we hope to improve parental wellbeing and coping, infant outcomes, and how NHS money is spent.Progress
Supported by the NIHR, our initial study developed a support package, called the Surviving Crying Package (SCP), for this purpose. This included a website, booklet, and short programme of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)- based sessions with a qualified practitioner. CBT-based sessions for supporting parental wellbeing are supported by NICE. To evaluate this package, 52 parents with excessively crying babies were referred to the study by health visitors [HVs]. Receipt of the materials was associated with substantial reductions in parental anxiety and depression and in the number of parents reporting crying to be highly frustrating and a severe problem. Our publications give details.This Study
The SCP was developed in collaboration with Health Visitors (HVs) to fit NHS services. The next step is to find out whether the materials, particularly the CBT sessions, can be delivered by HVs under routine NHS conditions. Therefore, we will carry out a 12-month study involving 16 parents and HVs, to answer the following questions:
1. Can HVs be recruited and trained to deliver the CBT sessions to parents?
2. Do parents and HVs maintain their use of the materials?
3. Do parents show the same benefits as in the exploratory study?
4. What is the cost for the NHS of providing the materials via HV services?REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/NW/0066
Date of REC Opinion
19 Apr 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion