The limerick lullaby project: an intervention to relieve prenatal stress.(Research Unwrapped)

With the festive period looming I felt that the topic of this paper ‘singing lullabies’ resonated with the custom of singing at Christmas time but more than that the joy and peace of singing regardless of the festivity is far reaching. I am not a singer (I wish I was) but people who do sing tell me how up lifting and happy it makes them feel. There can be no doubt that singing and the feel good factor are synonymous with a sense of wellbeing and good health. Indeed, Carolan et al (2011) provide extensive supporting literature of the positive effects of maternal singing and music therapy on infants and of note the benefits to preterm infants within their paper (p2). So I present to you for this issue of research unwrapped a detailed appraisal of the above research paper alongside a warm gesture of respect for those of you who can sing

Feeling cooped up after childbirth – the need to go out and about.

It is well known that recovering from childbirth can be a real challenge for many women. New mothers are, mostly, left to self care and manage their own recovery process. In seeking to feel like their old selves again mothers in this ethnographic study took longer than the traditional six weeks and needed to manage their feelings around being cooped up after childbirth. This article highlights an aspect of self care such as getting out and about, with or without the baby – a process that is pivotal to good recuperation and a sense of wellbeing after childbirth

Evaluation of Salford Carers' Development Service (SCDS)

“A carer spends a significant proportion of their life providing unpaid support to family or potentially friends. This could be caring for a relative, partner or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or substance misuse problems.” (Department of Health 2008) Between July 2007 and July 2009, a Carers’ Support Service operated within one area of Salford City (Charlestown and Lower Kersal). This original service was the pre-cursor to a different service known as the Salford Carers’ Development Service (SCDS). The SCDS was set up to meet carers’ support needs in other areas of the City from August 2009 using the learning from this original service. The SCDS comprised staff who had provided the Charlestown and Lower Kersal service and its senior management remained the same. The plan for the SCDS was that it would focus on three other areas of the City consecutively, with each one receiving dedicated SCDS input for a year-long period.In spring 2010, the SCDS manager (Chief Executive of Unlimited Potential – a social enterprise in the form of a community benefit society) negotiated an evaluation study to be undertaken by researchers from the University of Salford’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. Groundwork for the evaluation took place over the summer of 2010, with data collection commencing in October 2010 and completing in February 2011. This report shares the findings from this project which is an example of public engagement activity

Census Cities Project and Atlas of Urban and Regional Change

The Census Cities Project has several related purposes: (1) to assess the role of remote sensors on high altitude platforms for the comparative study of urban areas; (2) to detect changes in selected U.S. urban areas between the 1970 census and the time of launching of an earth-orbiting sensor platform prior to the next census; (3) to test the utility of the satellite sensor platform to monitor urban change (When the 1970 census returns become available for small areas, they will serve as a control for sensor image interpretation.); (4) to design an information system for incorporating graphic sensor data with census-type data gathered by traditional techniques; (5) to identify and design user-oriented end-products or information services; and (6) to plan an effective organizational capability to provide such services on a continuing basis

Census cities experiment in urban change detection

There are no author-identified significant results in this report