Central Bedfordshire Council have a higher than average incidence of women smoking in pregnancy. We were commissioned to explore why; and what can be done to lower the incidence.
A series of mini focus groups were conducted with new mums and pregnant women. These were complemented by one-on-one depth interviews with mums and mums-to-be, and paired depths with women and their partners.
The work highlighted a real lack of understanding and awareness amongst women and their partners of the reality of the health harms associated with smoking through pregnancy. It also unearthed a wide range of expectations and preferences regarding the nature of any intervention and shone a spotlight on the crucial relationship between midwives and mums-to-be. This project led to a redesign of the pathways to services and a revamp of the services themselves.
This is just one example of the work we’ve done to help people make positive health choices when pregnant. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more about our health and wellbeing research.
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