Media Release |
Mar. 22, 2005
UBC Researchers Explore Mothers’ Thoughts of Harming
Baby
Imagine the distress of repeated, intrusive thoughts of dropping
or drowning your newborn baby or being haunted by mental images
of the infant dying from disease or accident.
In the only study of its kind ever conducted in Canada, researchers
at the University of British Columbia will interview 100 new
mothers to learn how many experience these thoughts of accidental
or intentional harm, and how the thoughts may be acted out
in harsh parenting behaviours such as slapping or shaking.
In a similar 2003 U.S. study -- the only previous investigation
of the issue -- researchers found that 70 per cent of 300
research subjects reported thoughts of harming their baby.
“We believe many new mothers experience thoughts of
harm coming to their infant, but don’t talk about them
because they are afraid of what other people will think,”
says Nichole Fairbrother, a UBC post-doctoral fellow at the
B.C. Research Institute for Children’s & Women’s
Health (BCRICWH), who is conducting the study. “We want
to provide some tools for health professionals who work with
new mothers to help them address the issue.”
Researchers believe the thoughts may be connected to emotional
challenges faced by many new mothers, including postpartum
depression.
Called the Mother-Infant Wellness Project, the study is unique
because it examines the experiences of women both before and
after the birth of their babies. Investigators will interview
women in the last trimester of pregnancy with their first
child and follow up with them until the baby is three months
old. Through questionnaires and interviews in the home, they
will assess women’s reactions to the intrusive thoughts,
their content and duration, and factors that may predict the
frequency, persistence and fear associated with the thoughts.
Women wishing to be involved in the study must be expecting
their first child, experiencing a low-risk pregnancy, fluent
in English, living in the Lower Mainland and be 19 years of
age or older. Participants will have a confidential telephone
interview prior to selection for the study.
For further information, call 604.221.7875.
This study is made possible through the support of the Lions
Gate Healthcare Research Foundation and the BCRICWH.
The Lions Gate Healthcare Research Foundation is an independent,
community-based North Shore volunteer organization that supplies
research funding, fellowship grants and North Shore secondary
school scholarships.
BCRICWH operates in partnership with UBC and the Children’s
& Women’s Health Centre of BC, an agency of the
Provincial Health Services Authority.
A mother who has experienced these thoughts is available
to speak with print and radio media, on the condition of anonymity.
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