Feasibility Study of a Music and Social Support Intervention for Postnatal Mothers/Infants

This research study aims to assess the feasibility of conducting a full scale trial of Mamas in Harmony, a group music and social support class delivered by a professional musician for mothers and their babies. Classes for Mamas in Harmony run for 1 hour each week for 8 weeks at a community venue with 10-12 mothers and babies in each class. The aim of this study is to conduct a pilot randomised controlled trial and process evaluation to assess recruitment rate, retention rate, adherence rate to the study protocol, attendance rate for the intervention, completion rate of outcome measurement tools, acceptability of the intervention, and barriers/facilitators for study participation and intervention delivery. This feasibility study aims to recruit 60 mothers and babies. Forty will be randomly allocated to the intervention group of Mamas in Harmony and receive standard postnatal care and twenty will receive standard postnatal care only, as the control group. All mothers will be asked to complete study questionnaires at three time points over a 6 month period to assess their mental health and wellbeing and bonding with their baby. Mothers will also be asked if they wish to share their opinions and experiences about the research study and Mamas in Harmony classes (if they were allocated to that group) in an interview, to provide their thoughts, whether anything made it easy/difficult for them to participate and whether they have any suggestions on how to improve the study procedure. The musician will also be asked for their experiences on the barriers and facilitators of intervention delivery.