Project details

Summary

What is the study about? What are you trying to find out?

This study aims to find out if using a parenting programme is helpful and easy to use by mothers with mental health difficulties in the perinatal period (i.e., during the pregnancy or 1 year after birth). The parenting programme is called the Triple P Positive Parenting  Programme for Baby (online version).

It is an online programme of 7 interactive sessions (with video clips to watch) that parents work through at their own pace at home using a computer, tablet or their mobile phone. 

We are looking for up to 100 mothers to take part. 

Who is it for?

You have been invited to take part because:

• You are a mother of a baby aged 0-12 months, or you are in the third trimester of your pregnancy
• You are currently experiencing mental health difficulties
• You are under the care, or on the waiting list, of the Perinatal Specialist Mental Health Service at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH)
• You are 18 years old or older
• You are fluent enough in English to engage with the parenting programme and complete online questionnaires and, possibly, to take part in an additional interview.
• You either own or have access to a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop to view the parenting programme
• You can give informed consent to participate in the study.

What does taking part involve?

You will speak with a researcher on the phone or online (MS Teams or Zoom) to find out if you are eligible to take part. If you are eligible, we will ask you to sign a consent form. 

After this you will be given access to the online parenting programme.

You can work through it at your own pace, but ideally you complete it within 10 weeks. You will receive encouragement via text or email and a friendly researcher will call you 4 times to support you with your progress and answer any questions you have. 

You will be asked to fill in questionnaires with a researcher at the start of the study and again after about 10 weeks, because we would like to see if things change over time. 

You can choose to complete these questionnaires online (with a link being send to you) or with a researcher (on MS Teams or Zoom or over the phone). 

You will be involved in this study for 10-12 weeks in total (the study overall will last for 12 
months).

We will ask you for permission to audio or video record some assessments. You can say no to us recording assessments and still take part in the study. 

Optional interview stage: You may also be invited to take part in an interview to discuss your thoughts, feelings and experience  of using the Triple P positive parenting programme for Baby (online version) and participating in the Online Parenting Intervention for Perinatal Mothers (OPAL) study.

The interview aims to find out what mothers participating in the OPAL study think about using the Triple P positive parenting programme for Baby (online version) and how they found taking part in the study in general. This feedback will help the research team to design a larger study and make it better for future participants to take part in it.

Why is it important? 

We hope that having access to the online programme will help you, but we cannot promise this.

The information we get from this study may help us to improve the care of mothers with mental health difficulties in the future. 

Please note that taking part in this study will not impact any of your usual NHS care. You would access the online programme in addition to your NHS care.

How can I find out more?

You can find out more information about taking part in this study by downloading the key documents at the top of this page. 

If you are interested in taking part in this study, or have questions for the research team, click the button below to email the research team:

Email the research team