Co-designing a perinatal walking group for Muslim mothers
Our study will co-design a perinatal walking group for Muslim mothers. The study will run from April 2025-March 2026.
Research team
Co-Investigators
- Dr Kate Fryer, University of Sheffield
- Dr Elizabeth Taylor Buck, University of Sheffield
- Dr Josephine Ross, University of Dundee
- Dr Katie Hall
- Sara Metz (lived experience contributor)
- Nabiha Waheed (Research Associate) University of York
Project partners: Blaze Trails CIC, Light Peer Support, Refugee Women of Bristol
Project Summary
If a woman has a mental illness during pregnancy or up to 2 years after childbirth, it is called perinatal mental illness. This can have a long-term effect on children and has a high cost to society. Mental health support can help, but women from religious and ethnic minorities use mental health services less often than other women. Sometimes they find the support isn’t suitable or easy to find. We need better ways to reach and support these women.
The focus of the study will be on reducing loneliness. Loneliness can cause perinatal mental illness or make it worse. Loneliness means having fewer people to spend time with or talk to than you’d like. Some people feel lonely even if they have lots of family and friends because they don’t feel comfortable talking to them about difficult topics. Sometimes people feel lonely if they feel different to others.
Previous research funded by the NIHR Three Schools Mental Health Research Programme found that perinatal walking groups could help reduce loneliness. Consultation suggests that Muslim women are interested in taking part in walking groups. However, little is known about how these walking groups could be designed to make them as useful and enjoyable as possible for perinatal Muslim women. This is because Muslim communities have been overlooked in research.
This study aims to explore how perinatal walking groups could work for Muslim mothers. We will then co-design a walking group to test out in research in the future. Guided by a Research Advisory Group (RAG) of Muslim women, practitioners, and community organisations, we will employ Muslim women in Sheffield and London as Community Research Link Workers (CRLWs) to recruit other Muslim women to hear their views.
We will run four focus groups with Muslim women (around 32 participants) and two focus groups with professionals (around 20 participants) to understand their perspectives. Using these insights, we will co-design a walking group intervention through workshops, applying the Person-Based Approach.
Findings will be shared through academic publications, conferences, and accessible formats such as blogs, providing the foundation for future testing of the intervention.
Any questions, please email ruth.naughton-doe@york.ac.uk
@perinatalresearch.bsky.social
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