A Parenting Team?

Lead Research Organisation: University of Cambridge
Department Name: Centre for Family Research

Abstract

By five years old, 25% of children in the UK will have experienced the separation of their parents (Understanding Society 2018). It has traditionally been assumed by the public and courts of law that mothers should receive sole physical custody of their children, pushing them into single parenting despite shared legal custody with fathers. However, over the last two decades there has been an increasing shift towards shared physical custody, such that in 2018 leading experts called for a presumption of joint physical and legal custody, and by inference shared parenting (Braver & Lamb, 2018). Research outside the UK has found an advantage for shared parenting of children in joint physical custody across a range of domains, though noting some disadvantages, such as constant switching between homes (Nielsen, 2018). There is also a substantial body of evidence that conflict between parents, before and after separation, is associated with poorer child outcomes (Amato, 2001; Amato, 2010). It is estimated that 9% of UK families engage in shared parenting post separation (Peacey & Hunt, 2010), but there is no UK research on how children are faring in these families. What are relationships like within these shared parenting families? How do separated couples manage shared parenting? What is it like for children? If we are to address the UK policy drive to improve child and adolescent mental health (Department of Health Green Paper, 2017), it is imperative that we understand how separated couples manage shared parenting and how this effects children. Without this, potential targets for improving child adjustment and family life post-divorce are not well understood and decisions guiding parenting plans produced by courts are made upon assumptions and not evidence. I propose to use this fellowship to publicise and extend my research examining parents as partners to influence both scientific understanding and public policy.
I am a developmental psychologist and my doctoral research followed 200 mothers and fathers and examined psychological wellbeing and family relationships from pregnancy through the first two years of their first-born child's life. Despite an increase in fathers' involvement in childcare, the majority of research remains focused on mothers. My research explored whether the same factors (e.g., depression, couple relationship quality) influence both mothers' and fathers' parenting and how members of a couple impact each other. I found mothers', but not fathers', thoughts and feelings about their infant during pregnancy predicted the quality of their parenting during infancy. Whilst fathers' but not mothers' parenting over the first two years of life was more susceptible to outside influence, for example from mothers' behaviour and mental health and the quality of their couple relationship. These findings have important practical implications - mothers and fathers may need different types of support at different time points and helping one parent may lead to benefits for the other, which in turn may improve later child outcomes.
During my fellowship I will consolidate the research arising from my PhD to l enable me to pursue an independent career in academia. First, I aim to further publish and publicise the findings from my doctoral research. Second, I aim to develop my ability to translate research into policy and practice. Specifically, I will become associated with OnePlusOne, a national relationship charity, to develop content for their digital interventions for couples based upon my doctoral research. Third, I will test the feasibility of conducting the first UK study examining co-parenting after relationship breakdown. This pilot will ensure I will be in a well-informed position to develop my applications for further independent research funding which will enable me to extend the research field of parenting influences on child development and take my academic career to the next stage.

Publications

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Foley S (2022) Expectant mothers' not fathers' mind-mindedness predicts infant, mother, and father conversational turns at 7 months. in Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies

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Foley S (2021) Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study. in International journal of environmental research and public health

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Wells MP (2021) Route to High-Performance Micro-solid Oxide Fuel Cells on Metallic Substrates. in ACS applied materials & interfaces

 
Description My ESRC PDF had 3 objectives: 1) Publish, 2) Policy and 3) Pilot.

1) Publish
One of my published papers, which built on work conducted during my doctoral research in developmental psychology and involved following 200 heterosexual couples across the transition to parenthood, demonstrated the importance of not assuming that the same factors equally influence mothers' and fathers' parenting. Two further papers have taken forward data I collected as part of my PhD and analysed using new techniques in during my PDF - these two papers (currently under review for publication) focus on parents' abilities to think of their infants as individuals with thoughts and feelings, known as mind-mindedness. Specifically, the first highlights the changes in mind-mindedness across the transition to parenthood and the factors that are associated with gains in mind-mindedness for new mothers and fathers. The seconds demonstrates that mothers' prenatal mind-mindedness is link to mother, father and infant conversation as measured during naturalistic recordings over a day.
I also published a paper with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, as part of a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries. This paper demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. I also secured a publishing agreement to be the first author, with two other co-authors, of a book on Family Psychology for Oxford University Press' Primer Series. The book is aimed at A Level and undergraduate students with the aim to provide a concise, up-to-date overview of the foundations and most influential theories and findings in family psychology and child development. There is currently no text available with a comparable aim. This will provide an important means through which to disseminate findings from my research, as well as other important findings within the field.

2) Policy
As a research associate at the charity OnePlusOne, a charity focused on improving couple relationships, I helped evaluate an intervention aimed at improve couple's ability to share stress and communicate across the transition to parenthood as part of a Department for Work and Pensions project. The intervention - Me, You and Baby Too - was successful in helping to reduce conflict and increase couple satisfaction. During the fellowship I learnt more about how to translate research findings into (i) interventions, (ii) policy briefings for civil servants, and also developed a strong working collaborative relationship with the charity to undertake future research together.

3) Pilot
I also interviewed parents and children about their experiences of shared parenting post separation or divorce, as well as interviewing key stakeholders (e.g., family lawyers, charities who support separating couples) on the priorities for future research. This important data is helping to shape the development of a larger study examining co-parenting, family relationships and child adjustment in families who have experienced couple relationship breakdown.

My research is centred on the question of how families influence children's social, emotional and cognitive outcomes. To do this it is important to understand what predicts parenting and how best we can support parents. My research as part of my post-doctoral fellowship suggests we cannot assume universality of influences across mothers and fathers, nor across parents from different cultural contexts or at different points in their parenting journey.
Exploitation Route - Methodological contribution - I demonstrated that the prenatal attachment inventory is conceptually equivalent across 8 diverse sites. I conducted online pilot 'home visits' with parents and children, demonstrating the ease of the collection of online parent-child interactions.
- Empirical data - I collected novel data on experiences of co-parenting in families sharing parenting after separation and divorce. This will inform both my own future research and hopefully stimulate future research by others as well as collaborations.
- Policy - the Me, You and Baby Too digital intervention will be taken forward by OnePlusOne and hopefully used by other services supporting new parents making the transition to parenthood.
- Theoretical contribution - my research demonstrates the importance of not assuming that the same factors equally influence mothers' and fathers' parenting and that maternal centric models may need revising when being applied to fathers.
- Intervention - my research demonstrated the importance of parents' thoughts and feelings across the perinatal period: (i) expectant mothers' tendency to think of her future infant as an individual with thoughts, feelings and desires predicts the quality of family talk at 7 months, and (i) parental cognitions underpin the link between depression and reduced sensitivity to infants' cues. Together, these suggest target maternal state of mind could be a fruitful target for interventions to improve parent-child interaction quality, which in turn is associated with child cognitive, social and emotional outcomes.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Education

Healthcare

Government

Democracy and Justice

 
Description Work conducted as part of my ESRC PDF is informing decisions relating to future interventions and policies that will best support parents to be good parenting partners, which in turn should help improve children's social, emotional and academic outcomes. First, my work with the charity OnePlusOne helping to evaluate an intervention to reduce couple conflict across the transition to parenthood is being used by family support workers across different local authorities. Second, my pilot research examining parent's and children's family relationships after couple relationship breakdown and divorce has been shared via online talks with a range of audience members, notably parents, family law professionals, teachers and family pastoral support. I also have ongoing contact with the Nuffield family Justice Observatory regarding my research findings and future plans. Third, in preparing for my ESRC New Investigators Grant I have grown my network in Scotland, specifically making connections with local groups who support parents (Family Journeys, Glasgow City Parents Group, Shared Parenting Scotland, The Promise) as well as new local and international family law professionals (SKO Edinburgh, International Academy of Family Lawyers). The growing network I have established will be helpful in ensuring feasibility of delivering the project objectives, e.g., recruitment, avenues for public engagement and knowledge exchange. The ESRC New Investigators Grant was submitted in October 2022 and was awarded in August 2023. The grant was due to start by March 2024, however due to a period of sick-leave the grant is due to start in May 2024. Since then I have been in touch with project partners and was invited to the launch of the Family Solutions Group report in UK Parliament in October 2023 - all stakeholders are very excited about the project and its ability to contribute much needed evidence to ongoing discussions. I got to the final stage of the SGSSS Supervisor-Led PhD Studentship application (February 2023). The PhD would have used advanced quantitive methods to examine predictors of couple relationship satisfaction and decline. While unsuccessful at the final stage, the application will inform a secondary data analysis funding application with the co-supervisor I met developing the studentship. During my PDF I became a member of the Evidence for Better Lives Study (EBLS) early-career network and have since published from this ongoing study and led advanced quantitative methods training for other early career researchers in low-resource settings, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Ghana. This has unskilled these researchers and we are currently collaborating on a paper that has emerged from this training. In summer 2023 we have set up a new publication portal to encourage ECRs across the sites to write papers based upon data from across the 3 waves of data. In addition to developing my own grant as PI, I have also been invited to be a co-investigator on other proposals since my PDF finished: - UKRI Adolescent Mental Health SPF Methodology Call, Jan 2022: Rejected. Focus on adapting a research tool (used during my postdoctoral fellowship) for use by non-academic partners to help them support adolescent mental health by improving parent-child relationship quality. We are currently discussing new potential funders. - ESRC Open call. Submitted November 2022. Contribute my advanced quantitative methods expertise developed further through my PDF I am a co-investigator on a project examining the wellbeing and experiences of the first young adults conceived through sperm, egg or embryo donation in the UK who will have access to identifying information about the donor(s) involved in their conception through the national regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). Substantial impact anticipated for young adults, parents, HFEA, national and international policy making. Rejected. However, using feedback and after further PPI we have redrafted the application and submitted to the Nuffield Foundation in March 2024. Outcome pending. - MRC Applied Global Health Call. Submitted February 2023. During my PDF I became a member of the EBLS early-career network and have been invited to lead a Work Package in the 4th wave of data collection. The findings from this international study have international significance - contributing knowledge on violence against children and sustainable interventions to support optimal child adjustment. Rejected. Ongoing discussions about applying for new funds (March 2024). -ESRC responsive mode grant. In preparation - to be submitted Spring 2024. Building on my expertise regarding couple relationships, family influences and minority groups, as well as methodological skills, I have been invited to be a co-investigator on a study exploring young people's romantic relationships and mental health.
First Year Of Impact 2020
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services

 
Description Department for Work and Pensions Report
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
Impact I was involved in the evaluation of a digital intervention 'Me, You and Baby Too' that was funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, Challenge Fund Programme. As detailed in our report - The Best Start: Phase Two Evaluation of the 'Me, You and Baby Too' Digital Resource. Dr Shannon L Hirst, Dr Sarah Foley and Jenny Reynolds - the intervention led to a reduction in couple conflict. In addition, given the break-out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the evaluation explored the feasibility of a 'blended approach' to digital learning - which involved comparing outcomes for those who completed the digital intervention with a family support worker in person versus those who accessed it only online, as well as exploring the feasibility of delivering online training for family support workers. These findings will help inform future family interventions and the results will be reflected upon within the DWP in terms of future funding/roll out.
 
Description CAHSS Challenge Investment Fund
Amount £8,448 (GBP)
Organisation University of Edinburgh 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2022 
End 06/2023
 
Description Children and Young People Thematic Hub staff research fund application
Amount £250 (GBP)
Organisation University of Edinburgh 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2022 
End 09/2022
 
Description ESRC New Investigators Grant: Keeping the Child in Mind? Family Functioning and Experiences of Shared Parenting After Separation
Amount £299,825 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/X013480/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2024 
End 10/2026
 
Description Widening Participation Fund, Cambridge Admissions Office
Amount £5,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of Cambridge 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2020 
 
Title Family Adjustment and COVID-19 
Description Quantitative data from an online survey completed by 2516 parents with 3 to 8 year old children in Australia, China, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Data collected included: demographics, employment characteristics, household characteristics, childcare, COVID-19 impact and severity, family relationships, parent mental health, child adjustment, home learning environment, and connection to nature. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Publications: Foley, S., Ronchi, L., Lecce, S., Feng, X., Chan, M.H.M., & Hughes, C. (2022) Cross-Cultural Equivalence of Parental Ratings of Child Difficulties During the Pandemic: Findings from A Six-Site Study. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, e1933. Foley, S., Badinlou, F., Brocki, K.C., Frick, M.A., Ronchi, L. & Hughes, C. (2021) Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1136. Hughes, C., Ronchi, L., Foley, S., Dempsey, C., & Lecce, S. (in press) Siblings in Lockdown: International Evidence for Birth Order Effects on Child Adjustment in the Covid19 Pandemic. Social Development. 
 
Title Shared Parenting Pilot Data 
Description I conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility of conducting a larger-scale research project examining the family and child outcomes associated with variability in shared-parenting arrangements. To this end, I interviewed 10 experts (e.g., family solicitors, lawyers, family law academics, charitable organisations, intervention groups) in order to assess the current gaps in knowledge in terms of the empirical evidence necessary to help improve outcomes for parents and children, discuss recruitment strategies and discuss pathways to impact for future research. I also interviewed parents and children within shared-parenting families to pilot the research methods, assess the feasibility of online data collection in light of the pandemic and inform research question formulation and pathways to impact. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This pilot project is informing the development of a larger grant proposal examining the family and child outcomes associated with variability in shared-parenting arrangements. 
 
Description Estrangement During Lockdown 
Organisation Edge Hill University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I was involved in survey design, data management, quantitative data analysis and report writing.
Collaborator Contribution StandAlone - recruitment, interpretation and dissemination. Edge Hill University - survey design, qualitative data analysis and report writing.
Impact Report: Family Estrangement and the COVID-19 Crisis: A closer look at how broken family relationships have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis https://www.standalone.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Standalone_Report_v7.pdf Report picked up by media outlets and featured on the University of Cambridge webpage.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Estrangement During Lockdown 
Organisation Stand Alone
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution I was involved in survey design, data management, quantitative data analysis and report writing.
Collaborator Contribution StandAlone - recruitment, interpretation and dissemination. Edge Hill University - survey design, qualitative data analysis and report writing.
Impact Report: Family Estrangement and the COVID-19 Crisis: A closer look at how broken family relationships have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis https://www.standalone.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Standalone_Report_v7.pdf Report picked up by media outlets and featured on the University of Cambridge webpage.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Etch-a-Sketch Online 
Organisation University College London
Department Institute of Education (IOE)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I became a co-investigator on a grant application submitted to UKRI (call: Advancing adolescent mental health and wellbeing research) in January 2022 arising from pilot research I conducted with shared-parenting families during the pandemic. Specifically, the need to work online resulted in the use of an online parent-child interaction paradigm developed by a colleague at UCL IOE. Our contact resulted in being invited to develop this grant application to refine, adapt and validate this measure for non-resident parents and children. As part of the application (8 objectives), I will lead one of the work packages and share management of another work package we have built in opportunities for my career development, notably to learn vital skills in working as part of an interdisciplinary research team and, through leading scoping plans and involvement in roundtable events demonstrate excellence in knowledge exchange. The result of the application is, as yet, unknown.
Collaborator Contribution The PI invited me into the project as a collaborator, but ultimately will lead the project development.
Impact Grant application submitted to UKRI (call: Advancing adolescent mental health and wellbeing research) in January 2022
Start Year 2021
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation Babes-Bolyai University
Department Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Country Romania 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation Health Services Academy
Country Pakistan 
Sector Hospitals 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation Hue University
Country Viet Nam 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation Queen's University Belfast
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University of Cambridge
Department Institute of Criminology
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University of Cape Town
Country South Africa 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University of Edinburgh
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University of Ghana
Country Ghana 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University of Kelaniya
Country Sri Lanka 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University of Stellenbosch
Country South Africa 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University of West Indies
Country Jamaica 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Evidence for Better Lives Study 
Organisation University of the Philippines
Country Philippines 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I am currently collaborating on a prospective longitudinal study of 1,200 infants from eight low- and middle-income countries, and recently published a paper as first-author with colleagues in Jamaica, Vietnam, Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan, which demonstrated for the first-time the cross-cultural equivalence of a widely used questionnaire of maternal-fetal bonding. This work extends my doctoral research examining the transition to parenthood by considering the extent to which findings are similar or distinct across socially diversel contexts. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication.
Collaborator Contribution The project partners collected and manage the research data. Members of the consortium also provide support in developing manuscripts - both in terms of reviewing and contributing to my first-author paper, but also the chance to be a co-author on other publications arising from the data. I have also been invited to attend seminars and workshops by the consortium.
Impact The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving psychologists, public health researchers, criminologists, psychiatrists, social workers and medical professionals. Output: *Foley, S., Hughes. C., Murray, A.L., Valdebenito, S., Baban, A., Fernando, A.D. Madrid, B., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Sikander,S., Walker, S., Thang, V.V., Tomlinson, M., Fearon, P., Shenderovich, Y., Marlow, M., Chathurika, D., Taut., D. & Eisner, M. (2021) Prenatal Attachment: Using Measurement Invariance to Test the Validity of Comparisons Across Eight Middle-Income Countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health. Co-author: Murray, A.L.,M Hemady, C.L., Dunne, M., Foley, S., Walker, S. (2022) Measuring Antenatal Depressive Symptoms Across the World: a Validation and Cross-Country Invariance Analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9) in Eight Diverse Low Resource Settings. Psychological Assessment. Hemady, C., Speyer, L.G., Murray, A.L., Brown, R.H., Meinck, F., Fry, D., Do, H., Sikander, S., Madrid, B., Fernando, A., Walker, S., Dunne, M., Foley, S,. Hughes, C., Osafo, J., Baban, A., Taut, D., Ward, C.L., Thang, V.V., Feraon, P., Tomlinson, M., Valdebenito, S. & Eisner, M. (2022) Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with prenatal substance use and poor infant outcomes in a multi-country cohort of mothers: a latent class analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 505. Katus, L., Foley, S., Murray, A.L., Luong-Thanh, B.Y., Taut, D., Baban, A., Madrid, B., Fernando A.D.,, Sikander, S., Ward, C.L., Osafo, J., Marlow, M., Du Toit, S., Walker, S., Van Vo, T., Fearon, P., Valdebenito, S., Eisner, M.P., Hughes, C. (2022) Perceived stress during the prenatal period: assessing measurement invariance of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) across cultures and birth parity. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 25, 633-640. I am also an active member of the early career research network and have delivered across-site training on interviewing parents and coding these interviews for parental mind-mindedness. Training and coding is complete for 4 sites and we are currently working on analysis and writing up the findings for publication. As a co-investigator, In February 2023 we submitted a funding application (£2 million) outline to the MRC Applied Global Health Research call - this application would involved a 4th wave of data collection + intervention delivery for this cohort.
Start Year 2019
 
Description OnePlusOne 
Organisation OnePlusOne
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Research Associate at OnePlusOne: translating research into policy and practice 1. Government-funded (DWP) intervention project: "Me, You, Baby Too" - digital intervention to increase dyadic coping across the transition to parenthood. Involved in intervention evaluation: recruitment, data collection, analysis and report writing. 2. Government-funded (DWP) intervention project: "Seeing It Differently" - digital intervention to reduce inter-parental conflict for hard-to-reach communities. Involved in intervention evaluation: focus-group. 3. Ongoing collaboration: ESRC New Investigators Award development. Development of research questions, plans, recruitment and dissemination strategies with team. 4. Contribution to policy discussions - prepared policy briefings on impact of COVID-19 pandemic on family functioning for Director's meetings with civil servants and ministers preparing the government budget.
Collaborator Contribution I became a member of the team at OnePlusOne and so was treated to privileged information about ongoing work with policy makers. I have developed ongoing collaborations for future research plans with the aim of informing the development of their digital interventions to reduce couple conflict and to promote co-operative shared parenting post relationship breakdown.
Impact The Best Start: Phase Two Evaluation of the 'Me, You and Baby Too' Digital Resource. Dr Shannon L Hirst, Dr Sarah Foley and Jenny Reynolds. Supported by the Department for Work and Pensions, Challenge Fund Programme.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Parent representations 
Organisation University of Copenhagen
Country Denmark 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution In July 2022 I organised a symposium at the International Attachment Conference in Lisbon that brought together researchers interested in how new parents think about their children and the links with parenting behaviour and child outcomes. The conference was attended by academics, counsellors, psychiatrists, midwives, public health researchers and clinical psychologists. Since this I have continued discussions with Dr Ida Egmose Pederson and Dr Katrine Isabella Wendelboe from the Centre for Early Intervention and family Studies at UCPH. This has led to the submission of a funding application for activities that will inform a future larger grant.
Collaborator Contribution The funding application to the Edinburgh-Copenhagen Strategic Partnership Seed-Fund was for £20,000 and would support research and teaching collaborations. Dr Egmose Pederson is PI from UCPH and I'm PI from UoE - we worked equally on the application which we hope will enable us to achieve 5 objectives: 1) host a hybrid workshop, 2) conduct a systematic review/meta-analysis, 3) design and deliver a join educational activity for our graduate students, 4) conduct PPI work with parents and professionals supporting new parents, and 5) develop a grant application (ESRC).
Impact - funding application to the Edinburgh-Copenhagen Strategic Partnership Seed-Fund, submitted March 2023.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Shared Parenting Post Relationship Breakdown 
Organisation OnePlusOne
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution First set of project English partners (Resolution, OFW, OnePlusOne) helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact. Second set of project partners were developed upon taking up a Lectureship in Edinburgh and making new Scottish partnerships. Discussions with these new partners helped refine my research questions, sample and design, as well as opened up new pathways to impact. In October 2022 I submitted an ESRC New Investigators Grant proposal on shared-parenting post separation and divorce. - Resolution - I will present at their annual conference and contribute to information distributed to family solicitors which informs discussions with parents. - OurFamilyWizard - presented an webinar in 2021 watched live by 150 family law professionals on child adjustment in the context of shared-parenting arrangements (and has since had 1200 viewers) - Shared Parenting Scotland and IAFL - will present at their annual conferences -Family Journeys - will incorporate findings into their coaching sessions to support co-parents
Collaborator Contribution Organisations have helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact.
Impact Resolution have helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact (e.g., attendance at annual conference, contributing to information distributed to family solicitors). OurFamilyWizard - presented an webinar in 2021 watched live by 150 family law professionals on child adjustment in the context of shared-parenting arrangements (also distributed after for asynchronous viewing).
Start Year 2020
 
Description Shared Parenting Post Relationship Breakdown 
Organisation Only Dads and Only Mums
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution First set of project English partners (Resolution, OFW, OnePlusOne) helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact. Second set of project partners were developed upon taking up a Lectureship in Edinburgh and making new Scottish partnerships. Discussions with these new partners helped refine my research questions, sample and design, as well as opened up new pathways to impact. In October 2022 I submitted an ESRC New Investigators Grant proposal on shared-parenting post separation and divorce. - Resolution - I will present at their annual conference and contribute to information distributed to family solicitors which informs discussions with parents. - OurFamilyWizard - presented an webinar in 2021 watched live by 150 family law professionals on child adjustment in the context of shared-parenting arrangements (and has since had 1200 viewers) - Shared Parenting Scotland and IAFL - will present at their annual conferences -Family Journeys - will incorporate findings into their coaching sessions to support co-parents
Collaborator Contribution Organisations have helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact.
Impact Resolution have helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact (e.g., attendance at annual conference, contributing to information distributed to family solicitors). OurFamilyWizard - presented an webinar in 2021 watched live by 150 family law professionals on child adjustment in the context of shared-parenting arrangements (also distributed after for asynchronous viewing).
Start Year 2020
 
Description Shared Parenting Post Relationship Breakdown 
Organisation Our Family Wizard
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution First set of project English partners (Resolution, OFW, OnePlusOne) helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact. Second set of project partners were developed upon taking up a Lectureship in Edinburgh and making new Scottish partnerships. Discussions with these new partners helped refine my research questions, sample and design, as well as opened up new pathways to impact. In October 2022 I submitted an ESRC New Investigators Grant proposal on shared-parenting post separation and divorce. - Resolution - I will present at their annual conference and contribute to information distributed to family solicitors which informs discussions with parents. - OurFamilyWizard - presented an webinar in 2021 watched live by 150 family law professionals on child adjustment in the context of shared-parenting arrangements (and has since had 1200 viewers) - Shared Parenting Scotland and IAFL - will present at their annual conferences -Family Journeys - will incorporate findings into their coaching sessions to support co-parents
Collaborator Contribution Organisations have helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact.
Impact Resolution have helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact (e.g., attendance at annual conference, contributing to information distributed to family solicitors). OurFamilyWizard - presented an webinar in 2021 watched live by 150 family law professionals on child adjustment in the context of shared-parenting arrangements (also distributed after for asynchronous viewing).
Start Year 2020
 
Description Shared Parenting Post Relationship Breakdown 
Organisation Resolution
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution First set of project English partners (Resolution, OFW, OnePlusOne) helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact. Second set of project partners were developed upon taking up a Lectureship in Edinburgh and making new Scottish partnerships. Discussions with these new partners helped refine my research questions, sample and design, as well as opened up new pathways to impact. In October 2022 I submitted an ESRC New Investigators Grant proposal on shared-parenting post separation and divorce. - Resolution - I will present at their annual conference and contribute to information distributed to family solicitors which informs discussions with parents. - OurFamilyWizard - presented an webinar in 2021 watched live by 150 family law professionals on child adjustment in the context of shared-parenting arrangements (and has since had 1200 viewers) - Shared Parenting Scotland and IAFL - will present at their annual conferences -Family Journeys - will incorporate findings into their coaching sessions to support co-parents
Collaborator Contribution Organisations have helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact.
Impact Resolution have helped with pilot study recruitment as well as discussed ongoing research design and opportunities for dissemination/pathways to impact (e.g., attendance at annual conference, contributing to information distributed to family solicitors). OurFamilyWizard - presented an webinar in 2021 watched live by 150 family law professionals on child adjustment in the context of shared-parenting arrangements (also distributed after for asynchronous viewing).
Start Year 2020
 
Description i-FAM COVID-19 Consortium 
Organisation University of Pavia
Country Italy 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Towards the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and at the beginning of UK lockdown, I was invited to join a collaboration to examine the impact of the pandemic on family functioning. The consortium has brought together developmental psychologist across 6 countries with very different experiences of lockdown (UK, Italy, China, Australia, USA and Sweden). I have been involved in recruitment, data management, data preparation, data analysis and am currently writing a paper on family processes that buffer the effect of COVID-19 related family disruption on child mental health difficulties, in particular looking to see whether couple relationship quality moderates these associations. I am also involved in another paper examining the beneficial effects of sibling relationship quality on child outcomes during the pandemic.
Collaborator Contribution The partners across the sites were responsible for recruitment in their sites. There are different research interests across the sites - with some sites taking the lead on different papers.
Impact 2x first-author papers: Foley, S., Ronchi, L., Lecce, S., Feng, X., Chan, M.H.M., & Hughes, C. (2022) Cross-Cultural Equivalence of Parental Ratings of Child Difficulties During the Pandemic: Findings from A Six-Site Study. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. Foley, S., Badinlou, F., Brocki, K.C., Frick, M.A., Ronchi, L. & Hughes, C. (2021) Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1136. 1x co-author paper: Hughes, C., Ronchi, L., Foley, S., Dempsey, C., & Lecce, S. (2023) Siblings in Lockdown: International Evidence for Birth Order Effects on Child Adjustment in the Covid19 Pandemic. Social Development. 1 - 19. Preliminary analyses contributed to a UK policy brief for the Department of Work and Pensions. Preliminary analyses presented at an public engagement event for 100 people hosted by Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
Start Year 2020
 
Description i-FAM COVID-19 Consortium 
Organisation University of Pittsburgh
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Towards the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and at the beginning of UK lockdown, I was invited to join a collaboration to examine the impact of the pandemic on family functioning. The consortium has brought together developmental psychologist across 6 countries with very different experiences of lockdown (UK, Italy, China, Australia, USA and Sweden). I have been involved in recruitment, data management, data preparation, data analysis and am currently writing a paper on family processes that buffer the effect of COVID-19 related family disruption on child mental health difficulties, in particular looking to see whether couple relationship quality moderates these associations. I am also involved in another paper examining the beneficial effects of sibling relationship quality on child outcomes during the pandemic.
Collaborator Contribution The partners across the sites were responsible for recruitment in their sites. There are different research interests across the sites - with some sites taking the lead on different papers.
Impact 2x first-author papers: Foley, S., Ronchi, L., Lecce, S., Feng, X., Chan, M.H.M., & Hughes, C. (2022) Cross-Cultural Equivalence of Parental Ratings of Child Difficulties During the Pandemic: Findings from A Six-Site Study. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. Foley, S., Badinlou, F., Brocki, K.C., Frick, M.A., Ronchi, L. & Hughes, C. (2021) Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1136. 1x co-author paper: Hughes, C., Ronchi, L., Foley, S., Dempsey, C., & Lecce, S. (2023) Siblings in Lockdown: International Evidence for Birth Order Effects on Child Adjustment in the Covid19 Pandemic. Social Development. 1 - 19. Preliminary analyses contributed to a UK policy brief for the Department of Work and Pensions. Preliminary analyses presented at an public engagement event for 100 people hosted by Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
Start Year 2020
 
Description i-FAM COVID-19 Consortium 
Organisation University of Queensland
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Towards the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and at the beginning of UK lockdown, I was invited to join a collaboration to examine the impact of the pandemic on family functioning. The consortium has brought together developmental psychologist across 6 countries with very different experiences of lockdown (UK, Italy, China, Australia, USA and Sweden). I have been involved in recruitment, data management, data preparation, data analysis and am currently writing a paper on family processes that buffer the effect of COVID-19 related family disruption on child mental health difficulties, in particular looking to see whether couple relationship quality moderates these associations. I am also involved in another paper examining the beneficial effects of sibling relationship quality on child outcomes during the pandemic.
Collaborator Contribution The partners across the sites were responsible for recruitment in their sites. There are different research interests across the sites - with some sites taking the lead on different papers.
Impact 2x first-author papers: Foley, S., Ronchi, L., Lecce, S., Feng, X., Chan, M.H.M., & Hughes, C. (2022) Cross-Cultural Equivalence of Parental Ratings of Child Difficulties During the Pandemic: Findings from A Six-Site Study. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. Foley, S., Badinlou, F., Brocki, K.C., Frick, M.A., Ronchi, L. & Hughes, C. (2021) Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1136. 1x co-author paper: Hughes, C., Ronchi, L., Foley, S., Dempsey, C., & Lecce, S. (2023) Siblings in Lockdown: International Evidence for Birth Order Effects on Child Adjustment in the Covid19 Pandemic. Social Development. 1 - 19. Preliminary analyses contributed to a UK policy brief for the Department of Work and Pensions. Preliminary analyses presented at an public engagement event for 100 people hosted by Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
Start Year 2020
 
Description i-FAM COVID-19 Consortium 
Organisation Uppsala University
Country Sweden 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Towards the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and at the beginning of UK lockdown, I was invited to join a collaboration to examine the impact of the pandemic on family functioning. The consortium has brought together developmental psychologist across 6 countries with very different experiences of lockdown (UK, Italy, China, Australia, USA and Sweden). I have been involved in recruitment, data management, data preparation, data analysis and am currently writing a paper on family processes that buffer the effect of COVID-19 related family disruption on child mental health difficulties, in particular looking to see whether couple relationship quality moderates these associations. I am also involved in another paper examining the beneficial effects of sibling relationship quality on child outcomes during the pandemic.
Collaborator Contribution The partners across the sites were responsible for recruitment in their sites. There are different research interests across the sites - with some sites taking the lead on different papers.
Impact 2x first-author papers: Foley, S., Ronchi, L., Lecce, S., Feng, X., Chan, M.H.M., & Hughes, C. (2022) Cross-Cultural Equivalence of Parental Ratings of Child Difficulties During the Pandemic: Findings from A Six-Site Study. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. Foley, S., Badinlou, F., Brocki, K.C., Frick, M.A., Ronchi, L. & Hughes, C. (2021) Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1136. 1x co-author paper: Hughes, C., Ronchi, L., Foley, S., Dempsey, C., & Lecce, S. (2023) Siblings in Lockdown: International Evidence for Birth Order Effects on Child Adjustment in the Covid19 Pandemic. Social Development. 1 - 19. Preliminary analyses contributed to a UK policy brief for the Department of Work and Pensions. Preliminary analyses presented at an public engagement event for 100 people hosted by Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Invited talk - Our Family Wizard Webinar, UK. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was invited to give a talk to as part of the Our Family Wizard webinar series. The talk entitled "Post-separation parenting: children's voices" presented pilot data collected as part of my ESRC PDF, specifically focusing on children's reports of their experiences in shared-parenting arrangements. The talk was delivered online to a range of professionals working with separated parents, including lawyers, mediators, support workers and charities, as well as parents themselves. The talk led to introduction to two charities who are interested in supporting my ongoing research plans, specifically Shared Parenting Scotland and the Parenting Apart Programme.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Invited talk - The Interdisciplinary Perinatal Mental Health Group, Swansea University. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited talk: "Keeping baby in mind: links between parents' thoughts about their infant and interaction quality" to the Interdisciplinary Perinatal Mental Health Group, Swansea University.
The interdisciplinary group is made up of those studying, training, and working in perinatal mental health and aims to support evidence-based practice, policy, training and education. My talk involved disseminating the results of my PhD and post-doctoral research focusing on expectant mothers' and fathers' thoughts and feelings (including parental mind-mindedness and mental health) and how these are associated with observed parent-child interaction quality.
After the talk we had a long discussion about the implications of some of the findings, alternative explanations and discussed plans for my involvement in future research plans by the group.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Invited webinar - TooledUp Research 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Webinar: Post-Separation Parenting: Evidence and Assumptions re What's Best for Kids.

I was invited by Toolded Up (https://www.tooledupeducation.com/) to present a webinar to a network of 40 schools on my research on post-separation parenting arrangements on 18th May. This webinar was aimed at teachers, pastoral support, and parents and was advertised to family law networks too. The webinar discussed what is currently known about the implications of different post-separation parenting arrangements and how my ongoing research aims to address the gaps. I presented preliminary results from my pilot work with parents and children in families who are sharing parenting (i.e., 50:50) post relationship breakdown. There was an opportunity for attendees to submit questions before as well as part of the Q&A at the end of the session.
Tooled Up have also agreed to provide recruitment and dissemination support as part of the ESRC New investigator Grant application.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Panel Member: Stories from Lockdown 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I was invited to present preliminary data from the i-FAM COVID-19 collaboration to a panel discussion on 'Stories from Lockdown'. The panel was streamed to an international audience of alumni from Newnham College, an all-women Cambridge college. The panel included policy makers, parents and charity workers and so presented diverse perspectives on lockdown experiences. The 1.5 hour event included a long question and answer session after the presentations, for example exploring international differences on the impact of the pandemic on parents' and children's mental health.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Podcast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I was invited to be a podcast panel member for an episode that formed part of a mini-series called 'Blood and Water' which explored diverse experiences of family. I was joined by a range of LGBTQ+ artists e.g., spoken-word poet, comedian. The podcast was part of a wider festival Mesa Festival - an interactive, multi-arts festival exploring the concept of family. The festival included a range of interactive ways to engage with London's creative community and beyond.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Reproduction Forum 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was invited to give a talk as a member of panel for the Cambridge Reproduction Special Strategic Research Initiative. This is a multidisciplinary audience - academics, researchers, clinicians across the arts, humanities and social sciences, biology and medicine who explore the urgent challenges posed by reproduction today. The talk was delivered online earlier on in the UK lockdown (April 2020) and centred on research originating from my PhD and ongoing work with that data exploring prenatal predictors of parent-child interaction quality. The talk had a lively question and answer session which led to follow-up discussions with several research groups about the use of the methodology I adapted for my PhD - this has now been implemented in a new study examining the experiences of pregnancy during COVID-19.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description SRCD Biennial Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation to the Society for Research in Child Development.
Presentation as a part of a symposium on the theme: Transitions to parenting
Symposium Title: Transition to parenting: International experiences of new parent well-being, co-parenting and relationships
My presentation: Two's Company, Three's a Crowd? Maternal and Paternal Talk About Their Infant Differs in Associations With Wellbeing, Couple Relationship Quality, and Caregiving Sensitivity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Symposium convenor & presenter 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Symposium convenor & presenter: Lessons for attachment theory from including fathers and representational measures in mind-mindedness research, International Attachment Conference, Lisbon, Portugal. Invited international speakers to join symposium: Cristina Colonnesi, Ida Egmose Pedersen and Katrine Isabella Wendelboe. Multidisciplinary international audience at the conference with an interest in attachment, parenting, child development, included academics, psychologists, psychiatrists, public health, counsellors, midwives etc. The conference was hybrid and so the reach was greater than in person.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Woman's Hour - 23/02/2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Findings from the publication below were discussed by the PI on behalf of research conducted by the I-FAM COVID consortium: Hughes, C., Ronchi, L., Foley, S., Dempsey, C., & Lecce, S. (2023) Siblings in Lockdown: International Evidence for Birth Order Effects on Child Adjustment in the Covid19 Pandemic. Social Development. 1 - 19.
Woman's Hour is a prime-time radio show on BBC Radio 4 with national and international audiences. The slot was 15 minutes and included an in-depth discussion of the findings, the other research conducted as well as audience questions/comments which suggested audience engagement with the research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jc6w