Gill Thomson
Biographic Data
| ID | 3582559 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gill Thomson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gill |
| FAMILY NAME | Thomson |
| SIGNATURE | THOMSON G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Lancashire |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3392-8182 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 37 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
ABA‐Feed Infant Feeding Training for Peer Supporters and Coordinators
The assets-based feeding help before and after birth (ABA-feed) intervention aims to improve breastfeeding rates by offering proactive peer support to first-time mothers, regardless of feeding intention. Based on behaviour change theory and an assets-based approach, the intervention involved training existing peer supporters to become infant feeding helpers (IFHs). A train-the-trainer model was used, with coordinators delivering four 2-h training…
Experiences of the ABA‐Feed Infant Feeding Intervention
UK breastfeeding rates are low, with health inequalities in initiation and continuation. Breastfeeding peer support interventions are recommended in UK and global policy. The Assets-based feeding help Before and After birth (ABA-feed) trial tested the effectiveness of proactive, woman-centred support for infant feeding delivered by trained peer supporters (infant feeding helpers; IFHs) in addition to usual care at 17 UK sites. Using data from an …
Navigating shame to negotiate sexual agency among British-born South Asian women
Constructivist grounded theory was used to explore perceptions and experiences of sexual health among British-born South Asian women, aged 18-25 who lived in North-West England. We aimed to explore whether and how women were influenced by religion and socio-cultural factors. Participants ( n = 16) took part in either interviews or focus groups. A theoretical framework focusing on how women navigated shame to negotiate sexual agency was developed.…
Emancipatory Learning of a Hermeneutic Phenomenology Methodology Course
While various pedagogical approaches have been developed, there is little understanding of which are best for postgraduate research studies. This is particularly salient for a complex and evolving methodology such as hermeneutic phenomenology. We undertook a hermeneutic phenomenology study to capture participants' lived experiences and meanings of attending a hermeneutic phenomenology methodology course (in person and/or online). An open invitati…
Exploring Newly Qualified Midwives' Lived Experiences of Out-of-Hospital Births Through Voice Messaging and Interviews
When newly qualified midwives in Germany commence work in free-standing birth centres, a setting dissimilar to the hospitals where they trained, they undergo a period of orientation in which they must broaden their skills and knowledge. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological framework, this study explored their skill and knowledge acquisition in the first 9-12 months using two methods of data collection-voice messaging and interviews. As there appe…
Vulnerability Revisited
Open access. This open-access book discusses vulnerability and the protection-inclusion dilemma of including those who suffer from serious poverty, severe stigma, and structural violence in research. Co-written with representatives from indigenous peoples in South Africa and sex workers in Nairobi, the authors come down firmly on the side of inclusion. In the spirit of leaving no one behind in research, the team experimented with data collection …
Posttraumatic growth in women after a childbirth experience
The results suggest that deliberate rumination can contribute to explain the occurrence of PTG. These findings could help develop psychosocial interventions to maximize opportunities for deliberate rumination for women with traumatic childbirth experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Birth-related PTSD symptoms and related factors following preterm childbirth in Turkey
Objective : To examine factors associated with birth-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among women who had preterm birth in their last pregnancy in Turkey. Methods : 304 women were asked to report sociodemographic factors, perinatal factors, birth-related factors, preterm birth/premature infant characteristics, and social support factors and PTSD symptoms. Data were collected using online surveys between November 2020 and February 202…
Assessment of the attitude towards childbirth in health sciences students - development and validation of the questionnaire Cave-St
The purpose of this study is to report on the validation process of a questionnaire that explores health science students’ attitudes towards women’s childbirth experiences. This questionnaire can help inform education programs to enhance the quality of woman-professional interactions, and to improve women’s experiences of childbirth. A standardized procedure for the development and validation of the questionnaire included: item development and ps…
Theories for interventions to reduce physical and verbal abuse
Despite global attention, physical and verbal abuse remains prevalent in maternity and newborn healthcare. We aimed to establish theoretical principles for interventions to reduce such abuse. We undertook a mixed methods systematic review of health and social care literature (MEDLINE, SocINDEX, Global Index Medicus, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Sept 29th 2020 and March 22 nd 2022: no date or language restrictions). Papers that included theory were a…
Who Gets to Breastfeed? A Narrative Ecological Analysis of Women's Infant Feeding Experiences in the UK
The early post-natal period is a critical period in women's infant feeding journeys, often marked by high levels of unintended breastfeeding cessation. Previous research has argued that infant feeding should be perceived within a complex system whereby factors operating at different ecological levels (i.e., individual, social/community networks, cultural/institutional) interact to affect individual behaviors. However, currently, more work needs t…
Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative
Although breastfeeding is known to improve health, economic and environmental outcomes, breastfeeding initiation and continuation rates are low in the United Kingdom. The global WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) aims to reverse declining rates of breastfeeding by shifting the culture of infant feeding care provision throughout hospital maternity settings. In the United Kingdom, the global BFHI has been adapted by UNICEF UK refle…
Adapting breastfeeding support in areas of socio-economic deprivation
Findings suggest that while PSs are commissioned to focus on those most in need, there is limited discussion, collection, or use of knowledge about women's lives to develop needs-led service delivery. The key recommendation is the development of a social ecological tool to facilitate the use and application of contextual knowledge
ASK a Midwife
Midwife-led institutions, also called free-standing birth centres, offer birth assistance to women at low risk for complications. Free-standing birth centres, because they are the institutions that provide low intervention birth assistance, also present the possibility to conduct research on the skills and knowledge that are necessary to provide safe care for women who are at low risk for complications desiring an out-of-hospital birth. The aim o…
Women's and peer supporters' experiences of an assets‐based peer support intervention for increasing breastfeeding initiation and continuation
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: Breastfeeding peer support is valued by women, but UK trials have not demonstrated efficacy. The ABA feasibility trial offered proactive peer support underpinned by behaviour change theory and an assets-based approach to women having their first baby, regardless of feeding intention. This paper explores women's and infant feeding helpers' (IFHs) views of the different components of the ABA intervention. SETTING AND PARTICI…
From Description to Interpretive Leap
Hermeneutic phenomenology (HP) as research method is increasingly used in health and social science studies to collect and analyze lived experiential descriptions (LEDs) of a phenomenon. However, currently there is little guidance in how to apply philosophical notions to interpret LEDs in HP studies and this approach has faced critique in how meaning is attributed. In this paper, we offer clarity about what 'we do' in HP studies. It does not pres…
Restraint minimisation in mental health care
Coercive practices, such as physical restraint, are used globally to respond to violent, aggressive and other behaviours displayed by mental health service users.1 A number of approaches have been designed to aid staff working within services to minimise the use of restraint and other restrictive practices. One such approach, the 'REsTRAIN Yourself' (RYS) initiative, has been evaluated in the UK. Rapid ethnography was used to explore the aspects …
The ABA intervention for improving breastfeeding initiation and continuation
The UK has low breastfeeding rates, with socioeconomic disparities. The Assets-based feeding help Before and After birth (ABA) intervention was designed to be inclusive and improve infant feeding behaviours. ABA is underpinned by the behaviour change wheel and offers an assets-based approach focusing on positive capabilities of individuals and communities, including use of a Genogram. This study aimed to investigate feasibility of intervention de…
Breast pumps as an incentive for breastfeeding
Increasing breastfeeding rates would improve maternal and child health, but multiple barriers to breastfeeding persist. Breast pump provision has been used as an incentive for breastfeeding, although effectiveness is unclear. Women's use of breast pumps is increasing and a high proportion of mothers express breastmilk. No research has yet reported women's and health professionals' perspectives on breast pumps as an incentive for breastfeeding. In…
Pressure and judgement within a dichotomous landscape of infant feeding
Lack of support is reported as a key reason for early breastfeeding cessation. While breastfeeding peer support (BPS) is a recommended intervention to increase breastfeeding rates, a number of studies identify that engagement with BPS is problematic. Due to paucity of research in this area, this study explores why breastfeeding women do not access BPS in South-West England. Utilising a constructionist grounded theory approach, 33 participants (wo…
Incentives for breastfeeding and for smoking cessation in pregnancy
Financial or tangible incentives are a strategy for improving health behaviours. The mechanisms of action of incentives are complex and debated. Using a multidisciplinary integrated mixed methods study, with service-user collaboration throughout, we developed a typology of incentives and their meanings for initiating and sustaining smoking cessation in pregnancy and breastfeeding. The ultimate aim was to inform incentive intervention design by pr…
Shame if you do – shame if you don't
Emotions such as guilt and blame are frequently reported by non-breastfeeding mothers, and fear and humiliation are experienced by breastfeeding mothers when feeding in a public context. In this paper, we present new insights into how shame-related affects, cognitions and actions are evident within breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding women's narratives of their experiences. As part of an evaluation study of the implementation of the UNICEF UK Bab…
Men’s Talk
This article reports research undertaken to inform a social marketing campaign targeting men’s violence toward women in a city in northern England. Eighty-four men drawn from community groups participated in 15 focus groups. Participants struggled with wider definitions of domestic abuse and resisted depictions of men as wholly responsible for domestic violence. The potential loss of the relationship with children and, to a lesser degree, the rel…
Giving me hope
Breastfeeding peer support has been identified as a key intervention to help improve breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding rates. The World Health Organization, and, in the UK, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, recommend the implementation of sustainable peer support programmes. As part of an evaluation into a comprehensive breastfeeding peer support service in north-west England, in-depth interviews were conducted wi…
Police intervention in domestic violence incidents where children are present
The police represent the front line in the service response to children experiencing domestic violence. This paper examines police intervention in domestic violence incidents involving children, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from police records and interviews with young people and police officers. The quality of police communication with children and young people emerged as key, and police officers evinced reluctance to engage with…
A Stop-Start Response
The harm consequent on children’s exposure to domestic violence is recognised in legislation in England andWales. This paper reports on a study of the social work response to 184 families notified by the police to children’s services in two English authorities. Families were tracked through case records over 21 months subsequent to the notification. The perspectives of social services’ practitioners and managers were also captured through intervi…
Police intervention in domestic violence incidents where children are present
The police represent the front line in the service response to children experiencing domestic violence. This paper examines police intervention in domestic violence incidents involving children, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from police records and interviews with young people and police officers. The quality of police communication with children and young people emerged as key, and police officers evinced reluctance to engage with…
From Description to Interpretive Leap
Hermeneutic phenomenology (HP) as research method is increasingly used in health and social science studies to collect and analyze lived experiential descriptions (LEDs) of a phenomenon. However, currently there is little guidance in how to apply philosophical notions to interpret LEDs in HP studies and this approach has faced critique in how meaning is attributed. In this paper, we offer clarity about what 'we do' in HP studies. It does not pres…
Men’s Talk
This article reports research undertaken to inform a social marketing campaign targeting men’s violence toward women in a city in northern England. Eighty-four men drawn from community groups participated in 15 focus groups. Participants struggled with wider definitions of domestic abuse and resisted depictions of men as wholly responsible for domestic violence. The potential loss of the relationship with children and, to a lesser degree, the rel…
Restraint minimisation in mental health care
Coercive practices, such as physical restraint, are used globally to respond to violent, aggressive and other behaviours displayed by mental health service users.1 A number of approaches have been designed to aid staff working within services to minimise the use of restraint and other restrictive practices. One such approach, the 'REsTRAIN Yourself' (RYS) initiative, has been evaluated in the UK. Rapid ethnography was used to explore the aspects …
ASK a Midwife
Midwife-led institutions, also called free-standing birth centres, offer birth assistance to women at low risk for complications. Free-standing birth centres, because they are the institutions that provide low intervention birth assistance, also present the possibility to conduct research on the skills and knowledge that are necessary to provide safe care for women who are at low risk for complications desiring an out-of-hospital birth. The aim o…
Incentives for breastfeeding and for smoking cessation in pregnancy
Financial or tangible incentives are a strategy for improving health behaviours. The mechanisms of action of incentives are complex and debated. Using a multidisciplinary integrated mixed methods study, with service-user collaboration throughout, we developed a typology of incentives and their meanings for initiating and sustaining smoking cessation in pregnancy and breastfeeding. The ultimate aim was to inform incentive intervention design by pr…
Women's Sense of Coherence related to their infant feeding experiences
Given the overwhelming evidence for the benefits of breastfeeding, and yet the low prevalence rates in the UK, it is crucial to understand the influences on women's infant feeding experiences to target and promote effective support. As part of an evaluation study of the implementation of the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Community Award within two primary (community-based) care trusts in North West England, 15 women took part in an in-…
Giving me hope
Breastfeeding peer support has been identified as a key intervention to help improve breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding rates. The World Health Organization, and, in the UK, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, recommend the implementation of sustainable peer support programmes. As part of an evaluation into a comprehensive breastfeeding peer support service in north-west England, in-depth interviews were conducted wi…
Police intervention in domestic violence incidents where children are present
The police represent the front line in the service response to children experiencing domestic violence. This paper examines police intervention in domestic violence incidents involving children, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from police records and interviews with young people and police officers. The quality of police communication with children and young people emerged as key, and police officers evinced reluctance to engage with…
A Stop-Start Response
The harm consequent on children’s exposure to domestic violence is recognised in legislation in England andWales. This paper reports on a study of the social work response to 184 families notified by the police to children’s services in two English authorities. Families were tracked through case records over 21 months subsequent to the notification. The perspectives of social services’ practitioners and managers were also captured through intervi…
Men’s Talk
This article reports research undertaken to inform a social marketing campaign targeting men’s violence toward women in a city in northern England. Eighty-four men drawn from community groups participated in 15 focus groups. Participants struggled with wider definitions of domestic abuse and resisted depictions of men as wholly responsible for domestic violence. The potential loss of the relationship with children and, to a lesser degree, the rel…
Shame if you do – shame if you don't
Emotions such as guilt and blame are frequently reported by non-breastfeeding mothers, and fear and humiliation are experienced by breastfeeding mothers when feeding in a public context. In this paper, we present new insights into how shame-related affects, cognitions and actions are evident within breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding women's narratives of their experiences. As part of an evaluation study of the implementation of the UNICEF UK Bab…
Incentives for breastfeeding and for smoking cessation in pregnancy
Financial or tangible incentives are a strategy for improving health behaviours. The mechanisms of action of incentives are complex and debated. Using a multidisciplinary integrated mixed methods study, with service-user collaboration throughout, we developed a typology of incentives and their meanings for initiating and sustaining smoking cessation in pregnancy and breastfeeding. The ultimate aim was to inform incentive intervention design by pr…
Breast pumps as an incentive for breastfeeding
Increasing breastfeeding rates would improve maternal and child health, but multiple barriers to breastfeeding persist. Breast pump provision has been used as an incentive for breastfeeding, although effectiveness is unclear. Women's use of breast pumps is increasing and a high proportion of mothers express breastmilk. No research has yet reported women's and health professionals' perspectives on breast pumps as an incentive for breastfeeding. In…
Pressure and judgement within a dichotomous landscape of infant feeding
Lack of support is reported as a key reason for early breastfeeding cessation. While breastfeeding peer support (BPS) is a recommended intervention to increase breastfeeding rates, a number of studies identify that engagement with BPS is problematic. Due to paucity of research in this area, this study explores why breastfeeding women do not access BPS in South-West England. Utilising a constructionist grounded theory approach, 33 participants (wo…
The ABA intervention for improving breastfeeding initiation and continuation
The UK has low breastfeeding rates, with socioeconomic disparities. The Assets-based feeding help Before and After birth (ABA) intervention was designed to be inclusive and improve infant feeding behaviours. ABA is underpinned by the behaviour change wheel and offers an assets-based approach focusing on positive capabilities of individuals and communities, including use of a Genogram. This study aimed to investigate feasibility of intervention de…
Women's and peer supporters' experiences of an assets‐based peer support intervention for increasing breastfeeding initiation and continuation
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: Breastfeeding peer support is valued by women, but UK trials have not demonstrated efficacy. The ABA feasibility trial offered proactive peer support underpinned by behaviour change theory and an assets-based approach to women having their first baby, regardless of feeding intention. This paper explores women's and infant feeding helpers' (IFHs) views of the different components of the ABA intervention. SETTING AND PARTICI…
From Description to Interpretive Leap
Hermeneutic phenomenology (HP) as research method is increasingly used in health and social science studies to collect and analyze lived experiential descriptions (LEDs) of a phenomenon. However, currently there is little guidance in how to apply philosophical notions to interpret LEDs in HP studies and this approach has faced critique in how meaning is attributed. In this paper, we offer clarity about what 'we do' in HP studies. It does not pres…
Restraint minimisation in mental health care
Coercive practices, such as physical restraint, are used globally to respond to violent, aggressive and other behaviours displayed by mental health service users.1 A number of approaches have been designed to aid staff working within services to minimise the use of restraint and other restrictive practices. One such approach, the 'REsTRAIN Yourself' (RYS) initiative, has been evaluated in the UK. Rapid ethnography was used to explore the aspects …
Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative
Although breastfeeding is known to improve health, economic and environmental outcomes, breastfeeding initiation and continuation rates are low in the United Kingdom. The global WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) aims to reverse declining rates of breastfeeding by shifting the culture of infant feeding care provision throughout hospital maternity settings. In the United Kingdom, the global BFHI has been adapted by UNICEF UK refle…
Adapting breastfeeding support in areas of socio-economic deprivation
Findings suggest that while PSs are commissioned to focus on those most in need, there is limited discussion, collection, or use of knowledge about women's lives to develop needs-led service delivery. The key recommendation is the development of a social ecological tool to facilitate the use and application of contextual knowledge
ASK a Midwife
Midwife-led institutions, also called free-standing birth centres, offer birth assistance to women at low risk for complications. Free-standing birth centres, because they are the institutions that provide low intervention birth assistance, also present the possibility to conduct research on the skills and knowledge that are necessary to provide safe care for women who are at low risk for complications desiring an out-of-hospital birth. The aim o…
Who Gets to Breastfeed? A Narrative Ecological Analysis of Women's Infant Feeding Experiences in the UK
The early post-natal period is a critical period in women's infant feeding journeys, often marked by high levels of unintended breastfeeding cessation. Previous research has argued that infant feeding should be perceived within a complex system whereby factors operating at different ecological levels (i.e., individual, social/community networks, cultural/institutional) interact to affect individual behaviors. However, currently, more work needs t…
Birth-related PTSD symptoms and related factors following preterm childbirth in Turkey
Objective : To examine factors associated with birth-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among women who had preterm birth in their last pregnancy in Turkey. Methods : 304 women were asked to report sociodemographic factors, perinatal factors, birth-related factors, preterm birth/premature infant characteristics, and social support factors and PTSD symptoms. Data were collected using online surveys between November 2020 and February 202…
Assessment of the attitude towards childbirth in health sciences students - development and validation of the questionnaire Cave-St
The purpose of this study is to report on the validation process of a questionnaire that explores health science students’ attitudes towards women’s childbirth experiences. This questionnaire can help inform education programs to enhance the quality of woman-professional interactions, and to improve women’s experiences of childbirth. A standardized procedure for the development and validation of the questionnaire included: item development and ps…
Theories for interventions to reduce physical and verbal abuse
Despite global attention, physical and verbal abuse remains prevalent in maternity and newborn healthcare. We aimed to establish theoretical principles for interventions to reduce such abuse. We undertook a mixed methods systematic review of health and social care literature (MEDLINE, SocINDEX, Global Index Medicus, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Sept 29th 2020 and March 22 nd 2022: no date or language restrictions). Papers that included theory were a…
Vulnerability Revisited
Open access. This open-access book discusses vulnerability and the protection-inclusion dilemma of including those who suffer from serious poverty, severe stigma, and structural violence in research. Co-written with representatives from indigenous peoples in South Africa and sex workers in Nairobi, the authors come down firmly on the side of inclusion. In the spirit of leaving no one behind in research, the team experimented with data collection …
Posttraumatic growth in women after a childbirth experience
The results suggest that deliberate rumination can contribute to explain the occurrence of PTG. These findings could help develop psychosocial interventions to maximize opportunities for deliberate rumination for women with traumatic childbirth experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
ABA‐Feed Infant Feeding Training for Peer Supporters and Coordinators
The assets-based feeding help before and after birth (ABA-feed) intervention aims to improve breastfeeding rates by offering proactive peer support to first-time mothers, regardless of feeding intention. Based on behaviour change theory and an assets-based approach, the intervention involved training existing peer supporters to become infant feeding helpers (IFHs). A train-the-trainer model was used, with coordinators delivering four 2-h training…
Experiences of the ABA‐Feed Infant Feeding Intervention
UK breastfeeding rates are low, with health inequalities in initiation and continuation. Breastfeeding peer support interventions are recommended in UK and global policy. The Assets-based feeding help Before and After birth (ABA-feed) trial tested the effectiveness of proactive, woman-centred support for infant feeding delivered by trained peer supporters (infant feeding helpers; IFHs) in addition to usual care at 17 UK sites. Using data from an …
Navigating shame to negotiate sexual agency among British-born South Asian women
Constructivist grounded theory was used to explore perceptions and experiences of sexual health among British-born South Asian women, aged 18-25 who lived in North-West England. We aimed to explore whether and how women were influenced by religion and socio-cultural factors. Participants ( n = 16) took part in either interviews or focus groups. A theoretical framework focusing on how women navigated shame to negotiate sexual agency was developed.…
Medicine (21 works) · Psychology (19 works) · Breastfeeding (13 works) · Nursing (13 works) · Breastfeeding Practices and Influences (12 works) · Pediatrics (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum (10 works) · Qualitative research (10 works) · Social Psychology (9 works)