Surrey Perinatal

Amid growing evidence of the mental health difficulties that can be experienced by both new mothers and new fathers, this collaborative project used original research findings to develop professional practice and create resources for parents.

Start date

2020

End date

Ongoing

Overview

Ranjana and Paul had been researching and writing about perinatal wellbeing for the last few years. Ranjana’s work on mothers’ perinatal wellbeing and the role of digital technologies led her to approach Paul – who had been working on fatherhood – to do joint work on new fathers’ perinatal mental health. As their work on fathers and mothers progressed, they decided to bring these interests together, by producing parent and professional-facing resources from their work in association with national partners such as the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) and the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).

Amid growing evidence of the mental health difficulties that can be experienced by both mothers and fathers in the perinatal period, the need for appropriate information and support (not least for neglected or hard to reach groups such as fathers and migrant mothers) is acute. Our proposed activities centred on improving information and support through enhancements to practitioner understandings and practice and the production of on and offline information resources for parents.

Our Aims

1. We aimed to inform and engage with key antenatal and postnatal professionals in order to enhance their support for parents with respect to perinatal mental health;

2. We aimed to enhance the provision of well-informed direct communication about perinatal mental health issues with new parents via on and offline materials;

3. We aimed to improve communication and support related to especially neglected or difficult to reach groups, including fathers and migrant mothers.

We developed a plan of action which addressed two specific aims of the ESRC IAA.

First, we aimed to “expedite capacity development within and outside the institution, through training and skills development, to ensure the sustainability of activity and practices learned during the lifetime of the IA”. Second, we paidattention, through a range of material and practical means, the aims of the ESRC IAA to generate impact which “through coproduction of research with users, facilitated by early/greater opportunities for dialogue and networking with external partners and stakeholders”.

Addressing these aims, our work has spoken to two clear kinds of impact prioritised by the ESRC. The first – instrumental impact – has dealt with ““changes to policy, practice or service provision” and the second – capacity-building – has related to “technical and skill development”, both of which our proposed agenda have incorporated.

What we have produced

Together with our partner organisations, we translated our research on mothers’ and fathers’ perinatal mental health into workshops, infographics, factographics, evidence reviews, training and parent-facing material which all aimed to better support perinatal mental health.

Team

Ranjana Das profile image

Professor Ranjana Das

Professor

Paul Hodkinson profile image

Professor Paul Hodkinson

Professor of Sociology

Outputs

RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS

 

Our Projects

New fathers, mental health and digital communication

Funded by the University of Surrey’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and led jointly by Paul and Ranjana (2018-2019), this project considered the often-neglected area of new fathers’ struggles with mental health difficulties, and the role of digital media as part of coping practices. This research has been published in New Media and Society, and in Social Media and Society, and has had its findings launched as a report for practitioners in September 2019.

Now written up into our new book, New Fathers, Mental Health and Digital Communication, the work identified lack of information and support opportunities for such fathers as key to their struggles.

WATCH: video introduction to our work here
 

Technologies in maternal mental health

The second project, funded by the British Academy was led by Ranjana (2016-2018) and considered the increasingly important role of technologies in maternal mental health. This work has recently been published as a monograph with Routledge, and has been disseminated via 4 journal articles and numerous talks. Some of the journal papers are linked here and here.

The research highlights the range of socially induced pressures and anxieties to which mothers are subject and gaps in care and support.

 

Migrant mothers and mental health communication

Funded by the Wellcome Trust and led by Ranjana in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Surrey’s Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences (Louise Davies and Nadine Page) this work looked specifically at the mental health communication of migrant mothers. Addressing an area in which existing knowledge is limited, this work has drawn a significant amount of interest from practitioners such as the NCT and the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) and has been published as a report in 2019.

This work has highlighted the diverse and particular challenges faced by migrant mothers, in addition to an emphasis on cultural roadblocks, and communicative difficulties with healthcare professionals and/or impediments in the way of seeking and finding support.

 

New mothers and COVID 19

The fourth project, conducted with funding from the University of Surrey, was led by Ranjana, and looked at the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the mental health of new mothers and pregnant women. This work has highlighted urgent recommendations for maternity and pregnancy as the pandemic progresses.

 

Our Publications

Individually and jointly, Ranjana and Paul have been working on various aspects of perinatal mental health. What follows is a full list of their publications – books, journal papers and a range of non-academic writings – on the subject of mothers’ and fathers’ perinatal mental health.

Books

Hodkinson, P. & Das, R. (2021). New Fathers, Mental Health and Digital Communication. London: Palgrave

 

This book analyses in-depth, qualitative material on new fathers’ experiences of mental health difficulties after having a baby and, in particular, their use of online communications as part of their coping practices. At the heart of the book are the ways discourses of masculinity and fatherhood can exacerbate fathers’ difficulties and make communicating with others particularly challenging – and the extent to which digital media may provide opportunities to negotiate or contest such discourses through engaging with information and others, disclosing struggles and seeking support.

We examine the digital mediation of emotions around paternal mental health, the emergence of new, networked paternal intimacies, and new forms of connection and disconnection which shape, resource, and potentially empower fathers communicating about mental health.

Das, R. (2019). Early Motherhood in Digital Societies: Ideals, anxieties and ties of the perinatal. London: Routledge

Early Motherhood in Digital Societies offers a nuanced understanding of what the digital turn has meant for new mothers in an intense and critical period before and after they have a baby, often called the ‘perinatal’ period. The book looks at an array of digital communication and content by drawing on an extensive research project involving in-depth interviews with new mothers in the United Kingdom and online case studies. 

The book asks: what does the use of technology mean in the perinatal context and what implications might it have for maternal wellbeing? The book argues for a balanced and context-sensitive approach to the digital in the context of perinatality and maternal wellbeing in the critical perinatal period.

 

Journal Articles

  1. Das, R. (2021). Women’s experiences of maternity and perinatal mental health services during the first Covid-19 lockdown. Journal of Health Visiting, 9(7), 297-303.
  2. Das, R. & Beszlag, D. (2021). Migrant mothers’ experiences of perinatal mental ill health in the UK and their expectations of healthcare. Journal of Health Visiting Online First.
  3. Das, R. & Hodkinson, P. (2020). Affective coding: Strategies of online steganography in fathers’ mental health disclosure. New Media and Society
  4. Das, R., & Hodkinson, P. (2019). Tapestries of intimacy: Networked intimacies and new fathers’ emotional self-disclosure of mental health struggles. Social Media+ Society, 5(2), 2056305119846488.
  5. Das, R. (2018). Temporally inexpensive, affectively expensive: Digitally mediated maternal interpersonal ties in the perinatal months. Communication, Culture and Critique 
  6. Das, R. (2018). The mediated subjectivities of the maternal: A critique of childbirth videos on YouTube. Communication Review.
  7. Das, R. (2017). Speaking about birth: Visible and silenced narratives in online discussions of childbirth. Social Media + Society.

  8. Das, R. (2017). The mediation of childbirth: Joyful birthing and strategies of silencing on a Facebook advice and support group. European Journal of Cultural Studies

     

Reports

1. Das, R. (2020).COVID-19, Perinatal Mental Health and the Digital Pivot: Findings from a qualitative project and recommendations for a ‘new normal’. Guildford, Surrey. 

2. Das, R. & Hodkinson, P. (2019). New Fathers, Mental Health and Social Media. Guildford, Surrey. 

3. Das, R. (Eds.) (2019). Migrant mothers’ mental health communication in the perinatal period. Guildford, Surrey. 

 

Select Committee Evidence

1. Das, R. (2020). Written Evidence to the Women’s and Equalities Select Committee on the Disproportionate Impacts of COVID-19 on Pregnancy and Maternity.

2. Das, R. & Hodkinson, P. (2019). Written Evidence to the Women’s and Equalities Select Committee on the Mental Health of Men and Boys’: New Fathers’ Perinatal Mental Health

 

Blogs

  1. Das, R. (2020).‘Down will come baby, cradle and all’: Maternal anxiety in giving birth and raising infants amidst COVID19. BSA Everyday Society. 
  2. Das, R. (2020).Birth and beyond in a pandemic: Findings from a project with mothers in the England lockdown of spring 2020 . Centre for Research on Families and Relationships.
  3. Das, R.  & Hodkinson, P. (2020).Dad, distanced: The turbulence of new fatherhood amidst a pandemic. Discover Society.
  4. Das, R. (2020).Covid19, new motherhood and the digital pivot. Discover Society.
  5. New Book: Key Conclusions from Early Motherhood in Digital Societies – Ideals, Anxieties and Ties of the Perinatal. Surrey Sociology Blog.
  6. Das, R. (2019). New Book: Key Conclusions from Early Motherhood in Digital Societies – Ideals, Anxieties and Ties of the Perinatal. Surrey Sociology Blog.
  7. Das, R. (2019). New Report: Migrant Mothers’ Mental Health Communication in the Perinatal Period. Surrey Sociology Blog.
  8. Das, R. (2019). UK Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week: Mums Matter in Digital Societies. Surrey Sociology Blog.
  9. Das, R. (2019). Mothers’ Day: Ambivalences, Fractures and Ambiguities of ‘Mother’ . Surrey Sociology Blog.
  10. Das, R. & Hodkinson, P. (2019). Rescinding the ‘Rock’: Masculine imperatives to support and mental health struggles among new fathers. Surrey Sociology Blog. 
  11. Das, R. (2019). Going online for maternal mental health? A balanced, context-sensitive approach to placing maternal mental health on the digital health roadmap. Surrey Sociology Blog. 
  12. Das, R. & Hodkinson, P. (2019). Is Dad OK?. Blog for NCT.
  13. Das, R. (2018). Social media and maternal perinatal wellbeing: Findings from fieldwork with new mothers. Surrey Sociology Blog. 
  14. Das, R & Hodkinson, P. (2018). Paternal mental health and social media: Early fieldwork reflections on disclosure, affective coding and disconnection. Blog for Surrey Sociology.
  15. Das, R. (2018). Maternal wellbeing and the internet: Balancing optimism and caution. Blog for Parenting for Digital Futures, LSE.
  16. Das, R. & Hodkinson, P. (2018). Fathers in the spotlight: Why this matters and why we are researching new fathers’ mental health. Blog for Surrey Sociology

Resources produced

Outputs from this project

Here is a quick 1 pager with all our outputs produced as part of this partnership!

1 page summary of our outputs

 

Factographics:

Working with the iHV, we have developed three interactive, digital ‘factographics’ oriented to groups or areas with a previous resource-deficiency, namely, new fathers, mothers from South Asian communities and parents who had a baby during the COVID19 pandemic. Based on our research findings, these resources were produced collaboratively via initial discussions at an iHV Champions forum and further development via two meetings of a panel comprised of parents and professionals. The ‘factographics’ were presented by us at the iHV national conference in April 2021, have been launched in June 2021 and are available to both parents and professionals via the iHV web site, the primary source of information for UK health visitors and regularly visited by thousands of parents and other professionals. On launch, the factographics will also be prominently featured on iHV social media. Here they are below for you to browse and share!

Factographic: New parent during the pandemic?. 

Factographic: A baby is a blessing, so why do I feel this way?. 

Factographic: New Dad? You are not alone. 

For an overview of the collaborative, co-creative process behind these factographics – watch this talk from Paul and Ranjana at the IHV conference in 2021.

 

Evidence Reviews

We have undertaken 4 commissioned “Evidence Reviews” for the National Childbirth Trust. Through producing evidence reviews oriented towards previously neglected subjects relating to fathers and migrant mothers, these reviews will contribute to the update and development of parent-facing content on the NCT web site, which is one of the most high profile sources of parent-support information in the UK (accessed by 2,952,120 people between November 2018 and October 2019). The reviews can be accessed below:

Perinatal mental health of mothers from migrant communities

Fathers’ experiences of birth trauma

Paternal perinatal depression and anxiety

Fathers’ experiences of perinatal loss

 

Practitioner Development

We have delivered direct practitioner training. Our June 2021 webinar for current NCT practitioners centred on converting their work on fathers and mental health into enhancements to NCT antenatal courses, which are attended by 100,000 new parents in the UK every year. The webinar was accompanied by a factsheet, which was distributed more widely within the NCT community. We also delivered workshops in June and September 2021 for trainee NCT practitioners studying at the University of Worcester. In June 2021 we delivered educational content to trainee midwives and Health Visitors at the University of Surrey in a session on an Early Intervention Module in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing Programme for Health Visitors and School Nurses.

June 2021: Session in Early Intervention Module in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing Programme for Health Visitors and School Nurses

Paul and Ranjana’s session on 3rd June 2021

Slide-deck for Hodkinson and Das’ session for Specialist Community and Public Health Nursing Programme
 

Knowledge Exchange

Supporting New Parents Amidst COVID and Beyond: End of project conference

On 15th September, 2021, we hosted our fully virtual end of project conference which brought together leading academics and practitioners in perinatal mental health and the early years, for a forward-looking half-day conference centred on supporting the wellbeing of new parents.

The conference marked the end of the Surrey Perinatal Impact Partnership, a one-year ESRC funded partnership between the University of Surrey, the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) and National Childbirth Trust (NCT). Led by Dr Ranjana Das and Dr Paul Hodkinson, the project has pooled together academic research and professional expertise to enhance support for the wellbeing of new parents through development of resources and engagement with a range of perinatal practitioners.

The event included a showcase of the work completed during the project, complete with reflections from those involved, while also bringing together a range experts to provide a broader examination of research, evidence and professional experience on the wellbeing of new parents.

Video Recording of the Conference

 

Launch Event: New Fathers, Mental Health and Digital Communication (book publication)

Video Recording of Launch Event
 

Perinatal Mental Health during the COVID19 pandemic: Webinar hosted by the Maternal Family and Child Health Cluster at Surrey, March 2021

View here: LINK to Zoom Video

Contribution to the NCT’s Annual General Meeting 2020

Link to recording here

Contribution to webinar on: Impact of Covid-19 on families: a focus on new parents, children, and people with learning disabilities, with reflections from professional practice, March 2021

Link to recording here

ESRC Festival of Social Science Event: Becoming a Parent in a Pandemic, November 2020

Becoming a Parent….in a Pandemic – organised by Ranjana and Paul – as an ESRC Festival of Social Science event, drew upon their joint research and showcased 8 external speakers from leading practitioner, policy and public avenues. Speakers came from the National Childbirth Trust, the Institute of Health Visiting, Dorset MIND, The Fatherhood Institute, PND Hour, the Lancashire NHS Trust and the ROSHNI2 project, the Universities of Surrey, Bournemouth and East Anglia, and included new parents of 2020 as speakers. The event had approximately 500 sign-ups and close to 300 attendees on the day, generating a significant amount of live audience engagement, and social media feedback, engagement and commentary on the #FOSSParents2020 hashtag. The full event recording is available for viewing below.

Link to event recording here
 

 

Our blog for the Voices newsletter for the Institute of Health Visiting, October 2020, on the occasion of World Mental Health Day

Read here

 

Our research synthesis delivered at the September Forum of the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), September 2020

This talk addressed an audience from a health visiting and maternity background but also including some mental health professionals and parent representatives.

Recording available here


 

Research themes

Find out more about our research at Surrey: