Our aim is to help women who are expecting a baby to make confident decisions about what they choose to eat, based on accurate and up-to-date scientific evidence.
ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRES NOW LIVE
June 2023: Recruitment open! In this stage of our study we’ll be asking women living in the North Bristol area who have recently found out they are pregnant to fill in some online questionnaires about their diet and lifestyle. We’ll also ask you for a urine sample, plus an extra sample of blood when you visit the antenatal clinic. Click here for details.
May 2022: Are you a midwife practicing in England? We are interested in how you give advice on diet in pregnancy – see below to click through to our online questionnaire.
This questionnaire is now closed – thank you to all of you who filled it in
September 2021: Have you recently had a baby and live in England? We are interested in what you ate when you were pregnant
This questionnaire is now closed – thank you to all of you who filled it in
We’re also recruiting for our Virtual Advisory Group. Take a look at our volunteering page to find details of these opportunities.
NEW! We have our first scientific paper available – See our FINDINGS section
ABOUT THE STUDY
Diet and nutrition are important factors in every pregnancy for the health and development of the baby, as well as the well-being of the mother.
The aim of the PEAR Study is to find out how helpful advice and guidance on diet in pregnancy is. We’d like to find out about the choices women make about what to eat when they are pregnant and where they get their most-trusted advice and information from. We’d like to know whether this advice and information actually affects how much of particular foods women eat.
It’s also important that we ask midwives about what advice and information they give to women, how they provide information (e.g. online, via apps or leaflets) and their thoughts on what information is available.
We want to help women to make confident decisions about what they choose to eat, based on accurate scientific evidence.
The PEAR Study is funded by the Medical Research Council. The study has ethics approval from the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee, University of Bristol.
THE PEAR STUDY TEAM
Dr Caroline Taylor
The PEAR Study is run by Dr Caroline Taylor in the Centre for Academic Child Health, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol. Dr Taylor specialises in research on mother and child health especially in relation to nutrition and the environment. She’s recently also run projects on picky eating in preschool children and on how diet in the early childhood affects the likelihood of becoming overweight in teenage years.
Linda Mottram
Linda is the Study Manager for the PEAR Study. She works in the Centre for Academic Child Health and is a Registered Midwife with a background in Trial Management of large obstetric and paediatric trials. She also has experience working as a Senior Research Midwife, training staff and troubleshooting recruitment issues at participating hospital sites throughout the UK.
Dr Lucy Beasant
Also in in the Centre for Academic Child Health, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Dr Lucy Beasant specialises in research involving questionnaires, talking in depth with individual volunteers and running focus groups.
VOLUNTEERING FOR THE PEAR STUDY
As the study progresses, we’ll be looking for help with different parts of the study.
RECRUITING NOW:
VIRTUAL ADVISORY GROUP
Are you a woman with a child under 5 years old and living in England? We’d like to invite you to join the Advisory Group for our study. We’ll be asking you to give us feedback on different parts of our study (for example, on the ways we keep in contact with our volunteers, the content of our recruitment adverts, and so on). We want to make the study as successful as possible and your input will help us get everything just right first time.
All you need is an internet connection and an hour or so to join a virtual meeting of the group every three or four months. You don’t need to be able to join in every meeting.
For further details please email pear-study@bristol.ac.uk
June 2023: RECRUITMENT OPEN! We are asking women living in the North Bristol area who have recently found out they are pregnant to fill in some online questionnaires about their diet and lifestyle. We’ll also ask you for a urine sample, plus an extra sample of blood when you visit the antenatal clinic. Click here for details or email pear-study@bristol.ac.uk
NOW CLOSED
ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE: WOMEN
What’s it about?
We’d like to invite you to fill in an online questionnaire – it’s about the choices women make around what to eat when they are pregnant. We’d like to find out how much pregnant women know and where they get their most-trusted information from. We’d also like to know whether information and advice actually affects how much of particular foods women eat. Your input will help us to make sure that women get the right advice and information during pregnancy, in a way that is accessible and convenient for them.
Who are we inviting?
Women who’ve recently had a baby. Your baby should be 12 months old or less and you should have lived in England during your pregnancy. You will need an internet connection and a device to access the questionnaire through a weblink.
What does it involve?
It’ll take about 15 minutes of your time – that’s it!
Where is the questionnaire? Click here
For further details please contact pear-study@bristol.ac.uk
NOW CLOSED
ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE: MIDWIVES
What’s it about?
Our online questionnaire is about the information and advice pregnant women are given around what to eat. We’re especially interested how that information/advice is provided in your practice, perhaps by leaflet or maybe you recommend an app or website. We’d also like to know something about you and your career in midwifery.
Who are we inviting?
Midwives working in England who’ve been involved in antenatal care in the last couple of years. You will need an internet connection and a device to access the online questionnaire through a weblink.
What does it involve?
It’ll take about 15 to 20 minutes of your time – that’s it!
Where is the questionnaire? Click here
For further details please contact pear-study@bristol.ac.uk
FAQ
What will taking part in a study involve?
The requirements for each part of the study vary, but there are a few common threads. Most will involve filling in a questionnaire online, which will likely include some questions about you and your lifestyle, and often about your diet and what influences what you choose to eat. Others involve a more in depth discussion by phone or video link.
Some future studies will also include providing samples of urine and blood.
FAQ
What will happen to my information?
All the information and samples that we collect are strictly confidential. You will be given a unique participant number for each study so that your data will be completely anonymous and cannot be traced back to you. All the studies have been given ethics approval by the University of Bristol.
FAQ
Will I benefit from the studies in any way?
None of the studies will benefit you directly, but we anticipate that your input will help other pregnant women in the future. You will have made a contribution to a better understanding about the choices pregnant women make, what information pregnant women want about diet and how it should be provided in the future. We’ll provide summaries of all findings on this website.
Find out more today
Contact us to find out how you can be involved
Whether you would just like to find out more information or you are ready to volunteer, please do get in touch with us
STUDY FINDINGS
We will post summaries of all findings here as the studies progress. We’ll have some interesting information to let you know about very soon.
Thank you to all of you that have filled in our questionnaires so far. We’ve had a great response from those of you who have recently had a baby. We’re analysing the results now and will post a summary here soon.
We’re still open for midwives to fill in their questionnaire. Feel free to share the link if you would like to.
STUDY FINDINGS UPDATE – JANUARY 2022
Thank you to all of you who’ve recently had a baby and who filled in the questionnaire – nearly 600 of you from all over England. And all of the midwives too!
We’ve recently presented some of the findings, with a focus on eating fish in pregnancy, at a conference for the UK Nutrition Society in London:
Beasant L, Ingram J, Golding J, Cade J, Taylor CM (2022) Fish consumption in relation to national advice in pregnant women in England. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 81 (OCE1), E15
We’ve also had a look at the findings from the midwives’ questionnaire so far and are going to be presenting our results at the Royal College of Midwives Education and Research Conference in 2022.
Beasant L, Ingram J, Tonks R, Taylor CM (2022) Providing guidance on foods to avoid or limit during pregnancy by midwives in England. RCM Education and Research Conference MIDIRS Supplement 2022, p. 39
STUDY FINDINGS UPDATE – MARCH 2023
And here’s our full paper on what we found from the midwives’ questionnaire.
Beasant L, Ingram J, Tonks R, Taylor CM (2023) Provision of information by midwives for pregnancy women in England on guidance on foods/drink to avoid or limit. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 23:152
STUDY FINDINGS UPDATE – OCTOBER 2023
And here’s our full paper on what we found from the women’s questionnaire on eating fish.
Beasant L, Ingram J, Taylor CM (2023) Fish consumption during pregnancy in relation to national guidance in England in a mixed methods study: the PEAR Study. Nutrients 15(14), 3217 doi: 10.3390/nu15143217
full
CONTACT US
We aim to respond to all PEAR study enquires as quickly as possible, but please bear with us if there is a slight delay. We will typically reply to contacts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (post may not reach us for some time).
Thank you for your interest in the study
Best wishes from the PEAR Study team
The Pear Study
Centre for Academic Child Health
Bristol Medical School
University of Bristol
Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Rd
Bristol BS8 2PS
07590 695658
Find out more about volunteering for the Pear Study:
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