Emily, who is a third year psychology student at 天美传媒 (BU), is undertaking a study which looks into the perinatal effects of a traumatic birth and how fathers cope in the aftermath of such an event.
Around 10 per cent of fathers become depressed before and after birth, potentially leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with support available from a number of groups for women experiencing symptoms, but little to no services available for men.
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Emily said: 鈥淲hen I was on placement in third year, I got an email from all of my lecturers, talking about all of the different studies they wanted to go into and I saw Andy [Mayer鈥檚] which focused on dads, which I鈥檇 not really seen before 鈥� a dad鈥檚 perspective of birth trauma, so I thought I鈥檇 want to do that one.
鈥淲e鈥檝e found that it鈥檚 generating a lot of discussion and making people more aware of what鈥檚 happened to them, how they can help others and how they can seek help themselves, so even already, before we know the findings, it鈥檚 had a lot of impact on people.鈥�
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She added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 been really exciting 鈥� I didn鈥檛 think that research could be this exciting and could mean so much. I never thought I鈥檇 go down a research route, but this has definitely made me feel like this is something I could do in the future.鈥�
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Dr Andrew Mayers, Principal academic in perinatal mental health at BU, is working with Emily on the project: 鈥淓mily has been inspired right from the very beginning. It鈥檚 been a pleasure 鈥� what we are trying to do with the undergraduate programme is divert some of the work that we, as experts, are already doing through to 听undergraduates in a limited extent, that they can take this forward, and it鈥檚 working very well.鈥�
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He added: 鈥淨uite often, these relationships develop into wider research, with undergraduates going on to become researchers themselves, leaving a legacy which is great.
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鈥淭here鈥檚 been a little bit of work recently looking into father鈥檚 mental health in terms of post-natal depression, but there鈥檚 not been much work done in the controversial area of birth trauma. When a mother goes through a traumatic birth, from an unexpected caesarean through to full potential loss of life, we know that some mums get limited support through ongoing support groups, perhaps the health service, but what we do know, anecdotally, is that dads get absolutely no help at all.鈥�
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aims to promote the health and wellbeing of women, babies and their families by enhancing practice through education, research and scholarship, with more than 22 doctoral students working across local, national and international research.
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To take part in Emily鈥檚 study, visit
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