Health and Wellbeing in Pregnancy and Early Motherhood Event

Event background

An event is being held today at the Cardiff Story, organised by the Centre for Trials Research and CASCADE Research, to launch the findings of the Health and Wellbeing in Pregnancy study, and to bring together health professionals and academics with an interest in promoting healthy pregnancy and early years.

The symposium will be opened by Prof Billie Hunter, the RCM Professor of Midwifery at Cardiff University and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Midwifery Development in Europe. The symposium contains five talks, followed by an interactive stakeholder session.

Briefing for health professionals

Findings of the Health and Wellbeing in Pregnancy project, led by Aimee Grant and funded by the Wellcome Trust, are being launched today at the event in the form of a Health and WellBeing in Pregnancy Briefing – Dr Aimee Grant. The project engaged 10 women living in Communities First areas and living on low incomes to tell us first, their life story, second, what it was like to be pregnant and third: how pregnancy had specifically affected their health and wellbeing through a course of three participatory data production interviews.

Presenting findings

The study’s findings will also be presented in two ways, reflecting the dual analysis undertaken. Speaking first, Dr Melanie Morgan (Centre for Trials Research) will outline the multi-modal participatory research design used to produce data with participants.  Melanie will then use a psycho-social lens to consider the ways in which women’s transitions to motherhood affected their identity.  Aimee Grant (Centre for Trials Research) will then outline an alternative analysis of the data, which mapped women’s views and experiences of smoking, alcohol use, diet and infant feeding, both throughout the life-course and specifically during pregnancy, to the Behaviour Change Wheel.  This will enable barriers and facilitators to women following public health advice during pregnancy to be examined from a socio-ecological context which can inform intervention design.

New papers

Alongside the new empirical findings, papers from three researchers will be presented.  First, Dr Dawn Mannay (School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University), presents insights on using participatory and visual methods in research with mothers.  Second, Dr Amy Brown (Swansea University) provides a review of the evidence regarding baby-led weaning.  Finally, Dr Louise Roberts (CASCADE, Cardiff University) discusses her qualitative research on parenthood for young people in and leaving state care in Wales.

The session will end with the 60 participants engaging in interactive tasks to consider next steps for research and practice regarding health and wellbeing in the early years.

Presentations

• Aimee Grant – Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Healthy Pregnancy
• Amy Brown – Baby-led Weaning
• Dawn Mannay – Pregnancy and Creativity
• Louise Roberts – Early Parenthood for Young People in and Leaving State Care
• Melanie Morgan – Ideologies of Motherhood

Further information

For further information on the Health and Wellbeing in Pregnancy project, please contact Dr Aimee Grant.