Peer support antenatally for teenage mothers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of Peer support in the antenatal period for teenage mothers identified with perinatal mental health issues.
IRAS ID
251835
Contact name
Ruth Lovelady
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Staffordshire University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The primary objective of this research is to ascertain what effect an intervention- a peer support visit (peer supporters are people who have experienced a similar event/ill health as the participants but are recovered, they are not normally health care professionals) for one hour a week, for six weeks has upon the mood of pregnant teenage women, in the antenatal period. The main outcome hoping to be achieved long term, is the reduction in the severity of antenatal depression and, possibly, subsequently to reduce the incidence of postnatal depression.
To find out whether there is any impact on mental health this research intends to make comparisons. The study intends to do this by offering a group of pregnant teenage women (the intervention group), identified by their community midwife as depressed, through the routine use of a screening tool (the whooley questionnaire) as part of an assessment of mental health status, a weekly visit for six weeks from a Peer Support Worker (PSW). This group will then be compared with a group of teenage mothers have also been identified by the community midwife as depressed through the use of the same routine screening tool (the Whooley questionnaire). The control group will be provided with the regular antenatal care that is currently available. Each participant/mother will be placed into either group by random number selection.
On completion of the six visits the participants of both groups will be contacted by a member of the research team. The intended purpose of this contact is to explore how the support visits went, and for the Whooley questionnaire to be repeated. A member of the research team will then contact participants from both the intervention and the control group, in the postnatal period.REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
21/WS/0006
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jan 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion