Supporting Parent Infant Relationships Equitably

Our research team at the University of York, University of Huddersfield, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, and our public co-investigator are conducting an evaluation of a set of three new questions about parent-infant relationships, funded by the NIHR Policy Research Programme. These questions and accompanying guidance have been rolled out as an optional tool for staff to use when having conversations with parents and other caregivers of babies and young children.
Our evaluation will include interviews and focus groups with staff and parents/caregivers in different sites to explore to what extent the questions have been adopted into practice, what might be the barriers or facilitators to using the questions with different families in different settings, and compare referral rates in areas using the questions with areas not using them.
We will work closely with a public advisory group with lived experience of worrying about their relationship with their baby throughout the project.