‘One of Mummy’s Ladies’

2018 ◽  
pp. 169-226
Author(s):  
Ann Oakley
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Pregnancy Outcome ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Support Intervention ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
The Social ◽  
Beneficial Impact ◽  
The Impact

This chapter explores the role of the research midwives in the Social Support and Pregnancy Outcome (SSPO) study — what they did, said and felt; how they were perceived by the study women; the impact of the study on their lives. The midwives' role in the study was made up of conflicting elements. First, the injunction to provide social support seemed to them at times at odds with adhering to the methodology of a randomized controlled trial. Second, the midwives found that providing social support in practice had to contend with a burden of social disadvantage and difficulty in the lives of the study women, which was likely to overwhelm any chance of the social support intervention having any beneficial impact. Thirdly, in attempting to provide support in such circumstances, the midwives sometimes found themselves up against gaps and deficiencies in the health and welfare services which they were powerless to change. Fourthly, there was the problem of their own task in all of this, a problem which could be reduced to the question: who supports the supporters?

Who’s Afraid of the Randomized Controlled Trial?

2018 ◽  
pp. 137-168
Author(s):  
Ann Oakley
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Pregnancy Outcome ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
Perinatal Epidemiology ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Trial Field ◽  
The Social

This chapter details the design of the Social Support and Pregnancy Outcome (SSPO) study. It describes the ‘hybrid’ nature of the study, which made it difficult for the author to secure funding for it. The Department of Health eventually agreed to fund the SSPO study for three years from September 1985. By then, the author had left the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, with its resource of medical and epidemiological expertise, and the final protocol named a collaborator there, Dr Adrian Grant, who had extensive experience in the randomized controlled trial field, and was willing to help at all stages of the study.

Social support intervention to promote resilience and quality of life in women living in Karachi, Pakistan: a randomized controlled trial

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 693-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saima S. Hirani ◽  
Colleen M. Norris ◽  
K. Jessica Van Vliet ◽  
Sander Veldhuyzen Van Zanten ◽  
Rozina Karmaliani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Support Intervention ◽  
Randomized Controlled

Models of Knowing and Understanding

2018 ◽  
pp. 411-429
Author(s):  
Ann Oakley
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Pregnancy Outcome ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Research Findings

Whereas Chapter 11 examined what the Social Support and Pregnancy Outcome (SSPO) project can be said to have achieved in the way of research ‘findings’, this chapter broadens the framework of discussion to questions about the status of knowledge and methodologies of inquiry. It attempts to locate the SSPO study within the paradigm of the cultural turning-point referred to earlier — as an instance in the reworking of approaches to knowledge which characterizes intellectual debate in the latter part of the twentieth century. One way to approach this broader task from the specifics of the SSPO study is to ask what kind of methodology it is that combines the approach of a randomized controlled trial with that of ‘qualitative’ interviews.

Evaluation of Technology-Based Peer Support Intervention Program for Preventing Postnatal Depression: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shefaly Shorey ◽  
Cornelia Chee ◽  
Yap-Seng Chong ◽  
Esperanza Debby Ng ◽  
Ying Lau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Postnatal Depression ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
New Mothers ◽  
Support Intervention ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Peer Support Intervention

BACKGROUND Multiple international agencies, including the World Health Organization and the International Monetary Fund, have emphasized the importance of maternal mental health for optimal child health and development. Adequate social support is vital for the most vulnerable to postpartum mood disorders. Hence, an urgent need for sustainable social support programs to aid mothers ease into their new parenting role exists. OBJECTIVE This study protocol aims to examine the effectiveness of a technology-based peer support intervention program among mothers at risk for postnatal depression in the early postpartum period. METHODS A randomized controlled 2-group pretest and repeated posttest experimental design will be used. The study will recruit 118 mothers from the postnatal wards of a tertiary public hospital in Singapore. Eligible mothers will be randomly allocated to receive either the peer support intervention program or routine perinatal care from the hospital. Peer volunteers will be mothers who have experienced self-reported depression and will be receiving face-to-face training to support new mothers at risk of depression. Outcome measures include postnatal depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social support. Data will be collected at immediate postnatal period (day of discharge from the hospital), at fourth week and twelfth week post childbirth. RESULTS The recruitment and training of peer support volunteers (N=20) ended in June 2017, whereas recruitment of study participants commenced in July 2017 and is still ongoing. The current recruitment for new mothers stands at 73, with 36 in the control group and 37 in the intervention group. Data collection is projected to be completed by May 2018. CONCLUSIONS This study will identify a potentially effective and clinically useful method to prevent postnatal depression in new mothers, which is the top cause of maternal morbidity. Receiving social support from others who share similar experiences may enhance the positive parenting experiences of mothers, which in turn can improve the psychosocial well-being of the mothers, tighten mother-child bond, and enhance overall family dynamics for mothers and infants. CLINICALTRIAL International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number ISRCTN14864807; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN14864807 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6xtBNvBTX)

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