Creating and sharing evidence is a key part of how we support parents in their First 1,000 Days, through pregnancy, birth and the early days of becoming a parent.
Our Knowledge Team carries out a range of service evaluations, evidence reviews, and parent insight and service development projects. We also collaborate with universities and other partners on high quality research which aim to:
- add to the information and support available to parents on pregnancy, birth and parenthood
- improve parents’ experiences of maternity and postnatal service provision
- improve health outcomes for parents and babies
We are involved in an active programme of research focused on achieving positive impact for parents as they journey through the First 1,000 Days.
We work collaboratively with external research teams to support research which we know matters to new parents and which we think offers the potential for positive impact - whether through our own services and support, or community and health services. We also lead on pieces of research considered of strategic importance to NCT.
We work with research teams to ensure parents are well represented at every stage of the research process. This is sometimes called ‘user involvement’, or ‘Patient and Public Involvement’ (PPI) in research. We help with:
- identifying the issues which matter to parents
- helping design acceptable research tools and interventions
- supporting recruitment to studies.
We also recruit and support parents to work effectively as service user representatives within a research context. We make research accessible to difference audiences and support the use of evidence to drive improvements for parents.
Please do get in touch with the Knowledge Team at research@nct.org.uk if you have any questions or would like to get involved!
