Our research shows that mothers and fathers commonly choose to work on the following things with their peer supporter:
- Getting to know others in their local community
- Keeping well during pregnancy
- Bonding with baby
- Economic wellbeing
- Preparing to be a parent
- Emotional wellbeing
- Physical wellbeing
- Preparing for labour and birth
- Confident breastfeeding
- Feeling supported in their personal relationships
- Their housing situation.
To find out whether things are improving, we ask mothers, fathers and birthing people to answer some simple questions about these 11 issues at 3 key stages during their peer support journey:
- When the peer support starts (during pregnancy)
- Towards the end of the pregnancy and
- Three months after the birth.
The results so far
- 78% of parents show a positive change
- When comparing answers during pregnancy with those at three months after the birth there are no negative changes and there are positive changes for 93% (highly statistically significant)
- 70% had improved access to local services and 67% had improved communication with professionals involved in their care (highly statistically significant).