Reflective and responsive parenting in Merseyside; a qualitative study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Being a reflective parent; opinions from caregivers of how they know to be responsive to their babies. A qualitative study.
IRAS ID
167113
Contact name
Melissa Gladstone
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Recent evidence has shown that over 200 million children under five years may not reach their developmental potential worldwide. Significant evidence shows that reflective and responsive caregiving can improve long term developmental outcomes of a child. This approach has recently been promoted by the World Health Organisation and as part of the recent ‘healthy child programme’ within the UK. The most recent interest is the concept of “reflective parenting” also coined “keeping your baby in mind”. This idea differs from responsiveness and stimulation as focuses more on the ability of carers to understand and think about their child. Health Visitors are not only expected to offer this support in children’s homes but also through the Sure Start programme. Despite this promotion a recent Cochrane review states the lack of robust evidence to support home-based interventions such as the ‘Community Mothers Programme’ and other schemes that aim to educate parents in UK homes. Some interventions have been proven to work in other settings worldwide, such as the Family Nurse Partnership, an intensive programme only used for very high risk families. Although health visitors are targeted as those to provide this advice, it is likely that there are also many ways that parents can gain support and advice with regards to sensitive and responsive caregiving. It is not clear how and in what way parents may be gaining that support and advice and what the barriers are for mothers in doing so.
This study aims to investigate through qualitative methodology where and how parents in Liverpool gain this information. Consequently we aim to utilise this information to understand what approaches (by whom and where) may be best in terms of providing better advice, information within health particularly with regards to health visiting in children’s centers.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
14/NS/1081
Date of REC Opinion
8 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion