Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology最新文献

Aims/background: Terminating a desired pregnancy due to foetal anomalies has been linked to significant distress. It is however less clear what long-term psychological implications the parents face in the aftermath. This systematic review aimed to explore the mental health outcomes of parents after the termination of pregnancy due to foetal anomaly (TOPFA) after gestational week 12 + 0.

Design/methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines and using the PEO (Problem, Exposure, Outcome) framework, we conducted a comprehensive search across six electronic databases. The search was restricted to English studies published since 2000. Eligible studies provided quantitative assessments of mental health outcomes post-TOPFA. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Given the heterogeneity in outcome measures, the findings were synthesised narratively.

Results: Of the 2261 papers identified, 11 studies (four cross-sectional and seven cohort studies) were included. Results demonstrated variations in symptoms of trauma-related stress, depressive symptoms, and grief reactions across the different studies post-TOPFA. Variations were found to be related to time since TOPFA and the difference in assessment tools used. Factors investigated as predictors of mental health outcomes, including gestational age, educational level, and religion, showed inconsistent findings, though partner support consistently correlated with lower levels of grief. Male partners, included in two studies, generally reported fewer symptoms of psychological distress.

Conclusion: This review explores a range of mental health outcomes and highlights the need for better quality studies that consider the psychological impact of TOPFA on partners. Further, this systematic review stresses the need of standardisation in measurement tools for assessing mental health symptoms.

Background: Social egg freezing (SEF) is a technology that enables women to preserve and store healthy, unfertilised eggs for non-medical reasons, for use later on in life. Despite the growing number of women using this technology, very little research has explored the perceptions of SEF among women from ethnically minoritised backgrounds.

Method: The main aim of this study was to advance understandings of perceptions of reproductive timing within British South Asian communities, and in part, focus on women's perceptions of assisted reproductive technologies in shaping the timing of motherhood. Data collection took place over two qualitative phases: four focus groups (n = 31) and individual interviews (n = 28) and data were analysed using interpretative thematic analysis.

Results: The findings in this study demonstrate existence of varied and contrasting perceptions concerning reproductive timing and SEF amongst participants. The analysis developed two overarching themes: (1) Perceptions of SEF as a means of 'achieving' motherhood and (2) SEF as challenging normative expectations of reproduction.

Conclusion: These findings provide novel insights into how perceptions of SEF are mediated by women's familial, religious and cultural contexts, shaped by perceptions about the 'right time' to have children and normative expectations of how women pursue motherhood.

Background: Early miscarriage has been linked to a wide variety of subsequent psychological difficulties. Despite this, challenges in accessing appropriate psychological support following early miscarriage are emphasised throughout the literature. Few studies have explored barriers to accessing support following early miscarriage from the perspective of healthcare professionals providing support, and none of these have focused solely on National Health Service (NHS) primary mental healthcare settings.

Aim: This study therefore sought to address the gap in the literature through a qualitative exploration of the perspectives of perinatal champions working within Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. These are practitioners specifically allocated to the role of providing specialist perinatal support within the UK primary healthcare system and therefore deemed to be in a position most likely to be providing support for people following early miscarriage. The aim of this study was to elicit a fuller, critical understanding of the potential barriers to accessing psychological support following early miscarriage within a UK context, with the hope of eliciting suggestions for how to improve it.

Method: 12 participants took part in semi-structured interviews exploring their experiences of providing psychological support for people following early miscarriage.

Results: Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts yielded four key barrier themes: unclear guidance, service-centred care, journey to role, and societal stigma.

Conclusion: This study has implications in terms of informing service structure, roles, and training within IAPT to improve pathways to support, following early miscarriage.

Objective: The aim was to determine the effect of midwives' attitudes towards evidence-based practices in childbirth on mothers' perception and satisfaction with childbirth practices.

Material and method: This cross-sectional study was carried out with the participation of 34 midwives working in the delivery rooms of three public hospitals in a province in the south of Türkiye and 287 postpartum women whose deliveries were facilitated by these midwives. A Personal Information Form and the Midwives' Evidence-Based Practices Attitude Scale during Labor (MEBPAS) were administered to the midwives. A Personal Information Form, the Birth Practices Perception Scale (BPPS), and the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) were administered to the postpartum women.

Results: Because the skewness and kurtosis values were between -2 and + 2, the data showed normal distribution. The multiple linear regression model showed that the dimensions of MEBPAS (Interventional Practices, Supportive Care Practices, Movement and Nutrition Practices, Early Postpartum Period Practices) explained 29.4% of the total variance in BSS-R (F = 30.798; p = 0.041) and 53.4% of the total variance in BPPS (F = 83.094; p < 0.001). According to the Structural Equation Modeling, Interventional Practices, Movement and Nutrition Practices, and Early Postpartum Period Practices had statistically significant positive effects on BSS-R (respectively, β = 0.286, p < 0.001; β = 0.479, p = 0.016, and β = 1.009, p < 0.001), while Interventional Practices, Supportive Care Practices, and Early Postpartum Period Practices had statistically significant negative effects on BPPS (respectively, β=-0.048, p < 0.001; β=-0.026, p = 0.027, and β=-0.039, p = 0.034).

Conclusion: It was found that midwives' positive attitudes towards evidence-based practices in childbirth positively affected women's perceptions and satisfaction with birth practices.

Background: Previous studies have examined contributors to personal growth (PG) following the birth of the first child. This study examines for the first time the role of PG as a potential mediator in the relationship between individual characteristics (bond with parents and experiences of parental loss) and parental perception of their infant (warmth, invasiveness). By focusing on PG, this study offers a novel perspective on how parental experiences and relationships influence early parent-child dynamics over time.

Methods: We used data from a longitudinal study among new Israeli parents. Participants completed self-report questionnaires in three phases: Up to one year following the birth of their first child (n = 2,182); Six months later (n = 1,045); and after another six months (n = 811).

Results: The study revealed associations between background variables and perceived infant's warmth and invasiveness over time. A cross-lag panel model revealed that parental care as reported in Phase 1 was linked to perceived warmth in Phase 1, whereas parental overprotection and parental loss, both reported in Phase 1 were linked to perceived invasiveness in Phase 1. PG mediated the association between parental care and perceived warmth over time.

Conclusions: This study sheds light on the significance of parental bond, experiences of parental loss, and personal growth in shaping parents' perception of their infants. The findings highlight the importance of targeted support programmes to promote positive parent-infant relationships, emphasising the need for further longitudinal research to understand the dynamics of these relationships over time.

Background: Postpartum depression is a major public health issue impacting women's well-being and infant development. Dispositional mindfulness has been linked to lower severity of postpartum depressive symptoms (PDS), but the mechanisms behind this connection remain unclear. This study examines the serial mediation of psychological flexibility and maternal role satisfaction in the relationship between mindfulness facets and PDS.

Methods: Participants were recruited using convenience sampling and completed an electronic questionnaire assessing sociodemographic background, dispositional mindfulness, psychological flexibility, maternal role satisfaction, and PDS. The study included mothers over 18, who had given birth within ten months and could complete a Hebrew questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 298 women aged 21 to 47 (M = 31.34, SD = 4.34) with babies up to 10 months old.

Results: Mediation analyses showed that the mindfulness facets -describing, acting with awareness, and the overall score of dispositional mindfulness - were indirectly linked to lower severity of PDS through psychological flexibility and maternal role satisfaction. A serial mediation occurred, where higher mindfulness increased psychological flexibility, leading to greater role satisfaction and lower PDS. Additionally, nonjudging of inner experiences was directly associated with lower PDS severity and partially mediated by psychological flexibility and role satisfaction.

Conclusions: The findings contribute to our understanding of how dispositional mindfulness relates to postpartum mental health through emotional and cognitive pathways. In practice, encouraging mindfulness, particularly nonjudgment, alongside fostering psychological flexibility and maternal role satisfaction, may help alleviate PDS and promote the well-being of postpartum women.

Introduction: The quality of the early child-caregiver relationship plays a crucial role in shaping a child's development. In response to the lack of early intervention provisions for 2-5 year olds, the Leeds Infant Mental Health Service increased their offer to support children up to their fifth birthday (and their caregivers), where relational difficulties impact upon the child's emotional wellbeing.

Aims: This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the direct therapeutic work (named 'Understanding Your Toddler'; UYT), in promoting the child-caregiver relationship.

Method: Nineteen families were accepted for UYT, where there was motivation and emotional availability to consider change within the relationship. Thirteen families engaged in the work. The UYT offer adopted a three session, home-visiting model, drawing upon several therapeutic approaches. A two-phased mixed methods design was adopted. Phase I analysed quantitative changes within the relationship. Phase II qualitatively evaluated families and professionals' experiences of UYT.

Results: Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed rank analyses illustrated significant differences pre and post UYT in caregiver: goals, confidence, perceptions and feelings of irritation. No significant differences were found in caregiver feelings of warmth. Themes from interviews suggested that the strengths-based approach was valued, and that video work supported caregivers to 'see the world from their (toddlers') point of view'.

Conclusion: This evaluation contributes to the limited evidence evaluating the efficacy of child-caregiver interventions in practice. Despite the small sample, the UYT model provides a helpful framework (applicable to clinical contexts) to foster early relationships and emotional development of young children.

Aims/background: Children from unintended pregnancies are at an increased risk of experiencing less positive parenting practices as well as abuse and neglect. Thus, identifying factors that may explain the association between pregnancy intention and caregiving behaviours is critical, as well as identifying if these associations can be assessed during pregnancy.

Design/methods: In a sample of 297 pregnant people (M_age = 31.17, SD = 4.89; gestational age range 9.71-35.14, M = 23.55, SD = 5.54) and, later, their 6-month-old infants, this prospective study examined the degree to which two facets (i.e. acceptance and richness of perceptions of the child and their role in being a parent for that child) of caregivers' prenatal mental representations of the child explained the association between pregnancy intention and the caregiver behaviour observed during caregiver - child interactions in infancy.

Results: Results indicated that caregiver-child interactions following pregnancies that were intended, relative to those non-intended, were rated as higher in caregiving sensitivity and warmth. These relations were explained, in part, by a greater richness of perceptions, but not through acceptance.

Conclusion: Findings suggest richness of perceptions as a potential target for exploration in interventions to support pregnant people who were not intending to become pregnant as a means to promote positive caregiver - child relationships.

Background: Increased sensitivity to internal and external stimuli, known as sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS), has been linked to attachment insecurity and less optimal parenting styles in parents of children aged 4-13 years. Associations between these parenting factors in parents of children aged 3 years and younger have not yet been investigated. Understanding the relationships between these factors will facilitate the development of strategies to better support highly sensitive parents.

Methods: A sample of 153 parents of children aged 3 years and younger completed an online survey comprising standardised measures of SPS, attachment, and infant parenting styles. The underlying factor structure of the Infancy Parenting Styles Questionnaire was investigated.

Results: Factor analysis identified 33 items loading onto five factors: Discipline, Routine, Anxiety, Nurturance, and Involvement, with moderate to high reliability. SPS was positively correlated with parenting anxiety, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance, but did not predict parenting style. Younger parent age was associate with more insecure attachment styles. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that variability in parenting anxiety was predicted only by attachment anxiety and having fewer children.

Conclusion: While SPS was not seen to predict parenting anxiety, relationships between SPS, parenting anxiety, and insecure attachment suggest that strategies tailored to SPS would support highly sensitive parents to care for their children and promote improved parent-child relationships. These strategies may therefore be a beneficial addition to attachment-based parenting programs. Further studies using the Toddler Parenting Styles Questionnaire (TPSQ) are needed to identify optimal parenting styles for parents of infants and toddlers.

Background: Parents cuddling their babies during intensive care to promote parent-infant bonding is usual practice in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). However, babies undergoing cooling therapy and intensive care are not routinely offered parent-infant cuddles due to concerns of impacting the cooling process or intensive care. We developed the CoolCuddle intervention to enable parents to cuddle babies safely during cooling therapy. We investigated whether CoolCuddle impacted parent-infant bonding and parent's mental health.

Methods: We conducted parental interviews and compared mental health and bonding measures in two cohorts of parents; one with access to CoolCuddle and the other where CoolCuddle was not available.

Results: Ten tertiary NICUs in England and Wales from 2019 to 2023 were involved and 107 families. There were high levels of post-delivery depression amongst all parents. However, at discharge mothers in the CoolCuddle group had significantly less depression, lower EPDS scores, and higher MIBS scores (consistent with better mother-infant bonding) than those where CoolCuddle was not available. All measures appeared similar when re-measured at 8 weeks. Parents reported they were not ready to access psychological support or information whilst on NICU and stressed the need of mental health support following discharge, which was not offered or available.

Conclusion: The CoolCuddle intervention was associated with a lower prevalence of depression and enhanced bonding scores for mothers at discharge compared to those who did not cuddle their babies. Parents highlighted increased levels of postnatal depression following the sudden and traumatic admission of their infant to NICU after birth asphyxia.