If you are interested in participating in a research study called the Infant Sounds Study (Couples), The Department of Development Neuroscience and Child Health at BC Women’s and Children’s Hospital and the pediatrics department at UBC would like to hear from you.
Visit the Mother Infant Wellness Lab at http://www.motherinfantwellness.ca/research-infant-sounds.html for more information.
The purpose of this study is to find out if providing information on the typical features of infant crying can reduce frustration and other distressing thoughts and feelings in first-time parents when they hear an infant crying. This will be accomplished by having all participants listen to an audio recording of an infant crying while continuously rating their level of frustration. Following this, we will ask our participants to complete a final questionnaire in which we ask about a range of emotional responses they may have had to the tape recorded sounds as well as strategies they think would help to sooth a crying infant or to help them cope with infant crying. We are also asking them about any unwanted thoughts of harm, related to the infant, that they may have experienced while listening to the tape recorded sounds.
At the conclusion of the study participants are provided with a $5 Starbucks gift card in appreciation of their time as well as parent educational materials about infant crying (The Period of PURPLE Crying DVD). We hope that this study will help us to understand maternal responses to infant crying and allow us to better help new mothers as they cope with infant crying.