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Beliefs and attitudes during pregnancy and post natally

Every now and again we are struck by the depth and breadth of original empirical manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology. This issue is a classic example of this variety, not only of submissions from around the world, but the approaches and depth of investigation. We refer the readers to the Editorial we wrote some time ago (van den Akker & Redshaw, 2008), describing once again the unequivocal richness of research into Reproductive and Infant Psychology and the relentless stream of submissions we receive. Today, we also present the Conference abstracts accepted for paper and poster presentation at the 28th annual Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology (SRIP) conference. However, first we will outline the articles. Barlow, Hainsworth and Thornton’s interview study of women’s experiences of hospitalisation with hypertension during pregnancy addresses issues of communication between staff and the women admitted to hospital with largely invisible symptoms, and the discomfort they expressed for taking up valuable hospital space and time. Clearly, effective and clear communication is the key to ensuring hospitalised pregnant women are relaxed and feel looked after, even though they are not ill but at risk of further complications. Improving effective communication would put practice in line with the recent NICE guidelines (2007) on clinical management and service guidance. Williams, Povey and White address women’s intentions to use pain relief during childbirth using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and self efficacy as their theoretical frameworks. Women completed questionnaires on attitudes towards Entonox, pethedine and epidural analgesia during the third trimester of pregnancy. A number of components of the TPB successfully predicted intentions, whereas self efficacy did not. This study shows the predictive utility of theoretically based research which, it is hoped will also spill over into practice. Castle, Slade, Barranco-Wadlow and Rogers studied social support, mood and emotional expression in prospective mothers and fathers expecting their first baby and soon after birth. Social support differed between men and women pre and post delivery and was related to social support but not postnatal mood. They suggest that the link between adjustment to the new family, the fathers’ psychological health and social support for the mother and father are variables which need further extrapolation. Condon, Corkindale and Boyce describe the development of a new questionnaire specifically evaluating paternal–infant attachment in an Australian sample of men immediately following the birth of their child and one year later. The scale boasts