The acceptability of an affective cognition tool for new mothers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The acceptability of an affective cognition tool for new mothers
IRAS ID
172990
Contact name
Kathryn Abel
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
The early parental environment is crucial for healthy development of children. Maternal care behaviour including maternal sensitivity has been widely studied in relation to its potential effects on short- and long-term child outcomes. However, little is known about the potential pathways resulting in differing levels of maternal sensitivity.
Affective cognition is the interface at which emotional and cognitive processes are integrated in order to produce behaviour. This includes the processing of emotional information, recognition and processing of emotional facial expressions, social and moral emotions and the links between emotion, memory and attention. A computerised battery (known as ‘Emoticom’) has been recently developed for evaluating such processes in people with mood disorders.
This current study intends to use feedback from focus groups of new mothers to develop the current tool for use in new mothers. We aim to hold 3-4 separate focus groups with 5-10 mothers in each, recruited from health visitor run ‘healthy child’ clinics held in Sure Start centres in Manchester. The mothers would be asked for their feedback about the current tool and what it could include in order to be more relevant for new mothers, for example using images or words relating to parenting. This feedback will be audio-recorded and the data will be thematically analysed. The feedback will be used to modify the tool and a final focus group will be asked to provide feedback about the modified tool.
The long-term aim would be the pilot testing of the modified ‘Emoticom’ tool in a group of healthy mothers and later mothers with mental illnesses in order to understand better the relationship between maternal sensitivity and affective cognition. By more fully understanding the processes underlying maternal care behaviour and how affective cognition links with maternal sensitivity, this will help inform more personalised treatment approaches for vulnerable mothers and their children.REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/1053
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion