Family Wellbeing Team

Our team worked with parents, clinical psychologists and health visitors to create the Me and My Baby (MaMB) questionnaire, which contains 11 short questions for parents about their relationship with their baby. The MaMB questionnaire is short, easy to use in practice and helps open up conversations when a parent might be struggling to bond with their baby. This allows practitioners to signpost parents to support when needed.  The MaMB questionnaire has been tested in Doncaster and Bradford, and found to work well for parents and practitioners.

The MaMB is now being used by the specialist perinatal mental health service across Hull and the Humber region, and is included in the Parent Infant Foundation resource library. It is freely available to download from: https://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/research/public-health/projects/mamb/

Our next steps are to develop a training package to support equitable use of the MaMB questionnaire, including with families from different cultures, parents whose first language is not English, and parents experiencing perinatal mental health issues. We will also collect data to further evaluate the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. 

If you have any questions about this project please reach out to:

• Dr Sarah Blower, Project Lead - Sarah.Blower@york.ac.uk
• Dr Kate Mooney, Research Associate - kate.mooney@york.ac.uk

If you have any questions about this project please reach out to:-

• Dr Sarah Blower, Project Lead - sarah.blower@york.ac.uk
• Dr Zoe Darwin (University of Huddersfield), Collaborator - Z.Darwin@hud.ac.uk

The Shaping Family Wellbeing group includes 2 co-chairs and 21 parents or caregivers in Hull who care for a child aged 0, 1 or 2.

We work together to design and run research and development projects, as well as identifying new priorities for families.

At our first meet-up we discussed experiences of looking after their family’s health, and the following visual summary of the discussion was produced:- Visual Summary of 1st Family Advisory Board Meeting (PDF , 2,521kb)

A huge thank you to all the parents and caregivers who have joined the Shaping Family Wellbeing group, and to the following organisations for helping to get the word out there about this opportunity:

• Hull Family Hubs
• Hull & East Riding LGBTQI+ Forum
• Phoenix Wellbeing
• Healthwatch Hull
• BME Parenting Hull
• PMH support groups
• House of Light
• Healthy lifestyles team
• Home-Start Hull

If you might be interested in working with the Shaping Family Wellbeing group on an existing project or an idea for a grant, please get in touch with Dr Kate Morton: kate.morton@york.ac.uk

Our team are supporting Hull City Council to evaluate a new GP drop-in clinic at a Family Hub.

The clinic is available to all families attending certain play sessions at the Family Hub, and offers a flexible, weekly drop-in clinic for families to seek holistic support for any health concerns. The drop-in clinic is with the same GP each week and all consultations are in-person with no appointments needed.

We have engaged in capacity building to advise a local NHS Graduate Management trainee on collecting and analysing qualitative data, and knowledge exchange with the GP and public health consultant to support the collection of meaningful evidence about the service which can potentially be used to justify further funding. This has enabled the project team to conduct a service evaluation involving interviews with parents and practitioners to explore experiences of the drop-in clinic, questionnaires to measure trust, and demographic and clinical data to help understand who is using the service and how. Our next steps are to explore barriers and facilitators to scaling this approach and feasibility of an effectiveness evaluation.

If you have any questions about this project please reach out to the project leads:-

• Dr Kate Morton - Kate.Morton@york.ac.uk
• Dr Sarah Blower - Sarah.Blower@york.ac.uk

We are working with Phoenix Wellbeing and Hull Museums to understand how parenting groups can use green spaces and nature to promote family wellbeing and positive parent-child interactions for families of very young children.

The group is called Tree Babies and they have been commissioned by Hull Museums to deliver sessions in the green spaces/gardens on museum grounds.

We are conducting a literature review exploring the use of green space interventions to improve parent-child relationships and parent wellbeing, and use observations and interviews to better understand parents'/carers' experiences of the groups and the impact they have. We will work with the group organisers and Hull Museums to develop a theory of change to understand how the group is working.

We are setting up a stakeholder group to support this work, including parents, museum staff and specialists in green space interventions and museums - please contact us if you would be interested in joining our group.

If you have any questions about this project please reach out to:

Dr Kate Morton - kate.morton@york.ac.uk or Dr Sarah Blower, project leads - sarah.blower@york.ac.uk 

We are working on several projects that will evaluate the psychometric properties and potential utility of measures administered during the early years to both parents and children.

We are looking at standardised measures which were collected during the Enhancing Social and Emotional Wellbeing in the Early Years (E-SEE) randomised trial. These measures are the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC), a measure of a parent’s self efficacy in parenting, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a measure of a child’s socioemotional difficulties.

We are also looking at measures which are routinely collected by practitioners during the early years of a child’s life, and are recorded in their health and educational records. These studies will use data from the Born in Bradford cohort and the Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) cohort. These include the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) completed by teachers when children are aged five, and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) administered by health visitors to parents of 2-2 ½ year old children.

This work builds on our previous published systematic reviews of the psychometric properties of common child and parents outcome measures.

If you have any questions about these projects please reach out to:

Dr Kate Mooney -  kate.mooney@york.ac.uk or Dr Sarah Blower - sarah.blower@york.ac.uk 

Psychometric Properties of Child (0-5 Years) Outcome Measures as used in Randomized Controlled Trials of Parent Programs: a Systematic Review Gridley, N., Blower, S. L., Dunn, A. C., Bywater, T. J., Whittaker, K. & Bryant, M. J., 15 Sept 2019, In: Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. 22, 3, p. 388-405 18 p. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/142330/8/Gridley2019_Article_PsychometricPropertiesOfParent_1_.pdf 

Psychometric Properties of Parent-Child (0-5 years) Interaction Outcome Measures as used in Randomized Controlled Trials of Parent Programs: A Systematic Review Gridley, N., Blower, S. L., Dunn, A. C., Bywater, T. J., Whittaker, K. & Bryant, M. J., 15 Jun 2019, In: Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. 22, 3, p. 253-271 19 p. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/142329/8/Gridley2019_Article_PsychometricPropertiesOfParent.pdf 

Psychometric Properties of Parent Outcome Measures used in RCTs of Antenatal and Early Years Parent Programs: A Systematic Review  Blower, S. L., Gridley, N., Dunn, A. C., Bywater, T. J., Hindson, Z. & Bryant, M. J., Sept 2019, In: Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. 22, 3, p. 367-387 21 p. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/142331/8/Blower2019_Article_PsychometricPropertiesOfParent.pdf 

There is strong evidence that the first few years of life build the foundations for future health and wellbeing. Taking a preventative approach together with systems changes in local agencies can improve the life chances of babies and children. However, these interventions have yet to be tested at scale. The Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub will evaluate how 22 interventions aimed at pregnant women and children in three areas of Bradford impact on children's health and development. 

A partnership between Better Start Bradford and Born in Bradford, the Innovation Hub unites leading academics from the University of York and Bradford Institute of Health Research to provide a centre for evaluation of the Better Start Bradford projects. It also hosts the world’s first experimental birth cohort - Born in Bradford's Better Start (BiBBS).

Established in 2016, BiBBS recruits pregnant mums and their new babies living in the Better Start Bradford area and has enrolled more than 5000 families in total. BiBBS families share data with us so we can understand the impact of the Better Start Bradford programme and support planning of better services for families in the region.

We have planned two quasi-experimental studies which will use propensity score matching to establish whether some of the services delivered by Better Start Bradford are effective. Our evaluation of Baby Steps, a parenting programme that is delivered antenatally and postnatally, will establish if it is effective for improving maternal sensitivity and maternal mental health. Our evaluation of Incredible Years, a parenting education programme delivered to parents of 1-3-year-olds, will establish if it is effective for improving children's development measured on the Early Years Foundation Stage Profiles. 

For more information visit:

https://bsbinnovationhub.uk/ 

If you have any questions about this project please reach out to:

Dr Sarah Blower, Enhanced Evaluation Lead for BSBIH - sarah.blower@york.ac.uk 

Best Start is one of five topics within the Early Life and Prevention theme of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber.

The Best Start topic is led by Dr Sarah Blower and aims to improve the mental and physical health of parents and infants from conception onwards. This includes developing and evaluating interventions, co-producing and testing measures, and promoting equitable access to support for families.

Many of our projects support these Best Start objectives. You can read more about the ARC Best Start topic on the ARC’s website.

The Best Start topic is supported by our amazing team of experts in family well-being. We meet quarterly to discuss Best Start projects, share ideas and advice and plan further research.

Membership of the group is open to anyone working with expectant parents and/or parents, carers and families of babies and young children within the YH ARC region, including researchers, PhD students, practitioners, and professionals.

The group is chaired by Best Start topic lead: Dr Sarah Blower, Chartered Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Child Development and Family Wellbeing at the University of York.

Our members are listed below in alphabetical order:-

• Dr Sara Ahern, Programme Manager - Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub.
• Dr Hannah Armitt, Clinical Psychologist, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.
• Lois Armour, Research Assistant, Department of Health Sciences, University of York.
• Dr Malenka Bissell, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer, University of Leeds
• Dr Sarah Blower, Associate Professor of Child Development and Family Wellbeing, University of York
• Emeritus Prof. of Family Wellbeing Tracey Bywater, Department of Health Sciences, University of York.
• Dr Rachael Cheung, Research Fellow, Bradford Institute of Health Research
• Sarah Compton, Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Department of Health Sciences, University of York.
• Helen Christmas, Public Health Consultant, Hull City Council.
• Dr Zoe Darwin, Reader in Health Research, Huddersfield University.
• Dr Josie Dickerson, Director – Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub and Bradford Inequalities Research Unit and Institute for Health Research.
• Frankie Fair, Lecturer in Midwifery/Research Midwife, Sheffield Hallam University.
• Dr Amanda Firth, Senior lecturer, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Huddersfield.
• Marie Hopkinson, Social Worker (Advanced Practitioner), Calderdale
• Claire Marshall, Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Nurse/Clinical Lead. Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.
• Dr Amanda Mason-Jones, Public Health Specialist, Department of Health Sciences, University of York.
• Dr Lisa Milne, Clinical Lead of Specialist Mother and Baby Mental Health Service, Bradford District Care Trust
• Dr Kate Mooney, Research Associate, Department of Health Sciences,  University of York.
• Dr Kate Morton, Research Fellow, Department of Health Sciences, University of York
• Dr Dimitra Mouriki, Research Associate, Department of Health Sciences,  University of York.
• Dr Dea Nielsen, Research Fellow, Department of Health Sciences,  University of York.
• Tabitha Newman, Research Midwife,  City University of London.
• Louise Padgett, Research Associate and PhD candidate, Department of Health Sciences, University of York.
• Gareth Palliser, Research Assistant and pre-doctoral fellow, Department of Health Sciences,  University of York.
• Louisa Phillips,  Assistant Research Practitioner, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.
• Louise Savage, Specialist Practitioner. Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, Director of Phoenix Wellbeing.
• Dr Jessie Shepherd, Lecturer, Department of Education, University of York.
• Prof. Hora Soltani, Professor in Maternal and Infant Health, Sheffield Hallam University.
• Dr Rebecca Spencer, NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Leeds
• Emma Standley, Research Fellow, University of York
• Dr Umar Toseeb, Senior lecturer, Department of Education, University of York
• Professor Louise Tracey, Centre Lead: Inclusion, Childhood and Youth, University of Leeds.
• Jayne Wagstaff, Research midwife, University of Leeds
• Dr Joe Witney, GP.  Haxby Group Hull

Here is a link to our Terms of Reference:-

Terms of Reference (MS Word , 3,116kb)

For more information about the Best Start topic or to find out about joining the Best Start Steering Group, please reach out to:-

Sarah Blower, topic lead - sarah.blower@york.ac.uk