Life After the NICU: A Comparative Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

The aim of this study is to explore how a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) might affect the mental health of parents. We want to understand parental mental health within the context of their daily lives rather than looking at it retrospectively, after they have experienced this stressful period. We hope that in exploring this further we will be able to inform and shape the development of perinatal mental health services and relevant policies in the UK to better support parents with their emotional well being and relationship with their infant in the first year of the baby’s life.

What does this study involve if I take part?

You can participate in this study on your smartphone, as all the materials and questionnaires will be completed online or on an app.

1) After reading an information sheet you will complete a screening questionnaire. If eligible, you will be asked to sign a consent form agreeing to take part in the study.

2) You will then be asked to complete questionnaires that gather information about you, your emotional well-being, and your relationships, including your relationship with your baby. If your infant has experienced a stay in the NICU/SCBU, you will be asked some questions about your experience of this.

This could take between 20-30 minutes to complete. You can skip any questions you do not feel comfortable answering.

3) You will then be given instructions about how to download an app onto your smartphone. The ‘m-path’ app is downloaded for free via the app store. You will be provided with visual instructions on how to set up the app on your phone at this point in the study. The researchers will be available to help if you have any difficulties downloading the app or would like support to do so.

4) The m-path app that you have download will notify you five times a day, anytime between 7am-9pm for one week, to ‘check in’ with you about what you are currently doing, how you are currently feeling, how you feel about your baby, and how you feel you are coping.

The ‘check ins’ can be scheduled at times that suit you following a discussion with the researcher. If you are unable to respond to a ‘check-in’ you can respond to it at a later time. Here is a link to the app if you would like to read a bit more about it and see what it looks like: https://m-path.io/landing/.

If you take part, you will not be evaluated or judged in any way, your honest answers will help us understand how things are for you at that moment, and how things may be for other parents too. Your answers on the app are completely private.

5) After completing these ‘check ins’ via the app for a week you will be emailed a debrief form about the study. You will also be offered the opportunity to talk with the researcher over the phone about the study, if you would like.

If you would like you can also opt in to be contacted by the researchers via email, in one year. This second part of the study, a follow up study, would involve completing a similar set of questions and daily ‘check ins’ as you would have done so before. This will help us understand how your mental health develops over the proceeding year.

Am I eligible to take part?

We are recruiting two groups of parents*:

Information About This Study / Perinatal Mental Health: Resources and Information by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0