Mental wellbeing and the body during the perinatal period
Context
The perinatal period is a time of significant physical, physiological, and psychological change. While attention to maternal mental health is growing, how women and birthing people experience these physical changes both externally through body image and internally through interoception and how this relates to their mental wellbeing remains understudied.
Our research therefore examines how changes in bodily experience impact emotional well-being across the perinatal journey with an aim to inform perinatal mental health support and clinical interventions across this vulnerable time.
The research
Our research uses a variety of methods to understand the connection between mental wellbeing and the body across the perinatal period including experimental psychology psychometric assessments (Structural equation modeling, Network analysis, Scale development), qualitative methods and neuroimaging (EEG and OPM-MEG).
We focus on understanding how the brain adapts to profound physical changes, investigating how neural adaptations may underlie mental health vulnerabilities or support the developing bond with the baby. Additionally, we examine how the body’s changing role across the perinatal journey, from growing the fetus during pregnancy to infant feeding, influences emotional well-being and shapes the sense of self.
Featured publications
- Analysing the factor structure of the MAIA scale for pregnant women: Development of the MAIA-Preg
- Interoceptive and exteroceptive pregnant bodily experiences and postnatal well‐being: A network analysis
- The role of bodily experiences during pregnancy on mother and infant outcomes
- Bonding with bump: Interoceptive sensibility moderates the relationship between pregnancy body satisfaction and antenatal attachment
- Comparing body image dissatisfaction between pregnant women and non-pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Development and validation of the Body Understanding Measure for Pregnancy Scale (BUMPS) and its role in antenatal attachment