Parenting Following Surgery Study: Upper age limit increased

Parenting Study · Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Manchester, UK

Hello. My name is Karen and I am completing "The Parenting Following Surgery Study" as part of a PhD degree. I am advertising on here (with permission) as I believe that many of you may have personal experiences that are relevant to this project and that you may also hold information that could be of great value.

What is the purpose of the study?
Not a lot of information is known about the experiences of parents whose baby needs an operation soon after they are born. This research uses interviews to explore what it is like to be a Mum or Dad whilst a baby is being looked after in hospital following an operation and after the baby has been discharged home. It is hoped that this study will help to provide more understanding of the experiences of these parents. Wherever possible, this research will be fed back to professionals working with this group of parents.

Who can take part?
Parents may be able to take part if they live in the UK and have had a baby in the last year who needed an operation soon after they were born. This operation will have been for a condition that they were born with rather than something that they went on to develop (for example, as a result of prematurity.)

What should I do if I am interested?
If you are interested then please get in touch with me on parentingfollowingsurgerystudy@googlemail.com or 07768 350822 for more information.

When you contact me it would be helpful if you could let me know your name, how old your baby is now, whereabouts in the UK you live, what condition your baby needed an operation for and perhaps a short summary of how they are getting on now that they are at home.

Thank you very much for reading this and I hope to hear from you soon!

Parenting Study · Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Manchester, UK

During the course of my research, I have become increasingly aware that the problems relating to conditions like Exomphalos or Gastroschisis often extend well beyond the first year of life. I have therefore extended the upper age limit of baby’s whose parents are eligible for this study.

Having been granted research approval for this change I would now like to extend my invitation to include parents whose baby’s are currently up to 3 years of age. If you are interested in taking part and now qualify for the study following this amendment then email me on parentingfollowingsurgerystudy@googlemail.com or ring/text on 07768 350822 for more information.

Diane S · Joined: 18 Aug 2009 Posts: 5 Location: WORCESTERSHIRE

Hi Karen, I cannot take part in your study as my daughter is now 6. She was born with exomphalus major (liver and bowel). However, I would agree with you that problems do exceed surgery. Ella only started eating at 3 years, was fed by ng tube and had a very negative approach to feeding. Subsequently she has delayed development, soft muscle tone and severe pronation of both feet.

Good luck with your Phd, as I feel more research needs to be done in the after care of these children.

janie · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 241 Location: North of England

Hi Karen,

Do you still need help with this? If you have had few repsonses I would advise you to repost on the main parts of site as I only just noticed this and I come on Geeps daily.

My daughter is now four, so I am afraid that I am outside your parameters, but I think that this is a very well worthwhile piece of research if that helps!

Best regards and good luck with your PhD.

PS: Have you posted on Mumsnet.com? Might be a very good source of experiences for you.

Parenting Study · Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Manchester, UK

Thank you so much for your comments Janie! I am pleased to say that I have now finished recruiting for the study. Please let me know if any of you would like to be added to my list of people to emailed with a copy of my results once I have completed analysis and writing.

Please can I take this chance to say a big thank you to the parents that did contact me-? Your assistance really was invaluable and I am grateful that you gave up your time to talk to me.