Research centres
Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research
  1. The Cherish Project
  2. Infant Mental Health
  3. Pregnancy and Parenting Circles
  1. Selected publications
Maternal and Child Health

Selected publications

Reports and journal publications on Infant Mental Health by members of the Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research.

Skelton, E., Cromb, D., Smith, A., van Poppel, M.P.M., Morland, C., Harrison, G., Rutherford, M., Malamateniou, C. & Ayers, S. (2024). “It's not just the medical aspects that are important”: A qualitative exploration of first-time parents' experiences of antenatal imaging and their influence on parent-fetal bonding. Radiography, 30(1), pp. 288–295. doi:10.1016/j.radi.2023.11.019.

Skelton, E., Cromb, D., Smith, A., Harrison, G., Rutherford, M., Malamateniou, C. & Ayers, S. (2024). The influence of antenatal imaging on prenatal bonding in uncomplicated pregnancies: a mixed methods analysis. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 24(1). doi:10.1186/s12884-024-06469-0

Skelton, E., Smith, A., Harrison, G., Rutherford, M., Ayers, S. & Malamateniou (2023). The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on UK parent experiences of pregnancy ultrasound scans and parent-fetal bonding: A mixed methods analysis. PLoS ONE, 18(6), article number e0286578. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286578

Moran, P. M., Coates, R.  Ayers, S., Olander, E.K. & Bateson, K. (2022). Exploring interprofessional collaboration during the implementation of a parent-infant mental health service: A qualitative study. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 37(6), pp. 877-885. doi: 10.1080/13561820.2022.2145274

Skelton, E. , Webb, R. , Malamateniou, C., Rutherford, M. & Ayers, S. (2022). The impact of antenatal imaging in pregnancy on parent experience and prenatal attachment: a systematic review. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 42(1), pp. 22-44. doi: 10.1080/02646838.2022.2088710

Coates, R., Moran, P., & Olander, E. (2022) Measures of the parent-infant relationship: a systematic review of reviews. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 40(2), XCIII-XCIII

Webb, R. & Ayers, S.  (2019). Postnatal mental health and mothers' processing of infant emotion: an eye-tracking study. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 32(5), pp. 484-497. doi: 10.1080/10615806.2019.1620215

Webb, R., Ayers, S., & Endress, A. (2018). The City Infant Faces Database: A validated set of infant facial expressions. Behavior research methods, 50(1), 151–159. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0859-9

Vaillancourt, K., Pawlby, S. and Fearon, R.M.P. (2017). History of childhood abuse and mother-infant interaction: A systematic review of observational studies.  Infant Mental Health Journal, 38(2), pp. 226–248. doi:10.1002/imhj.21634.

De Pascalis, L., Kkeli, N., Chakrabarti, B., Dalton, L., Vaillancourt, K., Rayson, H., Murray, L. (2017). Maternal gaze to the infant face: Effects of infant age and facial configuration during mother-infant engagement in the first nine weeks. Infant Behavior and Development, 46, pp. 91–99. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.12.003.

Healy, S.J., Lewin, J., Butler, S., Vaillancourt, K. and Seth-Smith, F. (2016). Affect recognition and the quality of mother-infant interaction: understanding parenting difficulties in mothers with schizophrenia. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 19(1), pp. 113–124. doi:10.1007/s00737-015-0530-3.

Webb, R. & Ayers, S. (2015). Cognitive biases in processing infant emotion by women with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in pregnancy or after birth: A systematic review. Cognition and Emotion, 29(7), pp. 1278-1294. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2014.977849

PhD Theses

Webb, R. (2017). Maternal mental health, processing of emotion and maternal sensitivity. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City, University of London).

Reports

City, University of London and Mothers and Babies in Mind (2018) Mothers and Babies in Mind Evaluation Report.

Olander, E., Moran, P., Coates, R. & Ayers, S. (2021) Final report: Evaluation of Together with Baby service.