Is Instagram influencing future generations’ perception of childbirth?

*Trigger Warning: This article discusses themes of anxiety around childbirth and pregnancy loss*

My year on placement - First experience in a clinical setting

As part of my BSc in Psychology with placement (4 years) at the University of Bath, I applied for placement positions and gained some valuable experience which would help me figure out my plans after graduation! I had been interested in mental health and doing psychopathology modules at university had only confirmed my interest, but I still had no idea how the real practice actually worked.  

I applied and interviewed for an honorary psychology student position at the South West London and St George's NHS Mental Health Trust within the perinatal mental health team. Before applying I felt uncertain as to the extent of work the perinatal team does. However, they are integral mental health services across the UK that aim to support pregnant females and mothers who are suffering from moderate to severe mental health conditions. 

During my time on placement, I was involved with developing a new NHS service  – the perinatal trauma and loss team! While the perinatal mental health team helps pregnant and postnatal women who are presenting with a range of mental health conditions, those who have unfortunately experienced the death of their baby at any stage of their perinatal journey are not able to be seen under the team.

Therefore, the perinatal trauma and loss team was developed as part of the NHS' Long-Term Plan to expand support for maternal mental health. The perinatal trauma and loss team also captured women who were experiencing psychological distress due to perinatal trauma and those with a fear of childbirth. Witnessing and being involved in the development and expansion of this new service gave me greater insight into the operations of NHS mental health services. Also, pregnancy loss is a very sensitive topic and my time in the perinatal trauma and loss team gave me the privilege of hearing others' stories and allowed me to produce support resources to hopefully help women through this difficult time.  

Going into this placement year, I was quite nervous being surrounded by a multidisciplinary team of experts including psychiatrists, clinical nurse specialists and other psychologists. However, the team was very supportive, and I gained a wealth of knowledge and experience working with and shadowing these professionals.

Being able to step outside of the lecture hall and into the clinical environment really put into perspective everything I had learned and allowed me to broaden my knowledge into an area of mental health that I believe needs a greater spotlight. By the end of my placement, I felt confident that the world of clinical psychology was one that I wanted to pursue, and I was ready for more experience! However, I needed to get through the final year of university first. 

Perinatal mental health - How it has inspired me?

Perinatal and maternal mental health was not something I had great knowledge about before my placement. However, it emphasised that pregnancy and motherhood is one of the greatest life transitions one can experience and with it can come a range of psychological conditions such as postnatal depression, anxiety, perinatal OCD, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These conditions can be distressing for the mother and have other impacts on their family as well as their relationship with their baby and their infants' mental health and development.  

I directly heard various individuals' experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood. They were stories filled with joy, fear, excitement and uncertainty. This range of emotions was very confusing for service users and caused distress as a lot of women felt this pressure for pregnancy and motherhood to be full of happiness. Especially for new mothers, this journey to motherhood sometimes felt daunting.

As a female, it made me reflect on my thoughts on pregnancy and potential future motherhood. I learnt a lot about pregnancy and what being a mother entailed during placement - sometimes part of me felt foolish that I did not know some of these things before! Throughout secondary school, we have been taught how to prevent pregnancy and the importance of contraception. Yet as I get older and the reality of starting a family comes sooner, it made me realise that, along with many other individuals, I am not sure what pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood are comprised of. 

My dissertation research 

As I am in my final year studying psychology at the University of Bath, I have been working on my dissertation project, which was inspired by hearing about others' birth experiences and increased engagement with online material around pregnancy and birth. Many people use online applications like social media to share their birth stories, which is their own individual experience during labour and childbirth.

Therefore, my dissertation investigates the impact of birth stories via Instagram on young female students' perception of future childbirth, whereby females' fear of childbirth, childbirth self-efficacy and future birth preferences are measured.  

While on placement, I was involved in setting up an Instagram page for perinatal mental health service users. While researching content to include on our page, I came across various posts describing childbirth experiences; by clicking on these posts the Instagram algorithm kept targeting these posts my way! I saw various experiences of birth which left me with a conflicted feeling.

While I felt more informed and inspired by others' stories, there was a small sense of uncertainty that I would never be able to go through childbirth. This led to me reading more about fear of childbirth and the influence of media and social media on the perception of birth of females who had never given birth before. With online material being the main point of access for childbirth information for childless women, it is an important area to investigate. Furthermore, social media is still relatively new in research, meaning limited research projects are looking at this specific form of media on young females' perception of childbirth.

I am looking forward to analysing my research data and contributing to the understanding of young women's perception of childbirth and what we can do to provide reliable information to childless women about the perinatal journey to reduce adverse mental health outcomes.

My future directions 

My time on placement made me realise that I cannot wait to get started on my clinical psychology journey, while also opening my eyes to the reality and difficulties of this profession. After graduation, I aim to get an assistant psychologist or trainee psychological wellbeing professional position within a mental health team.

While I feel confident in my perinatal knowledge and would love to work in another perinatal team one day - I am excited to expand my knowledge and apply my skills to other areas. Hopefully, after successful years of experience in a clinical setting, I will apply for the Doctorate of Clinical Psychology, which I am sure will be a tough but very rewarding journey!

Further reading and support resources

Tommy's charity describes what fear of childbirth is and how pregnant women can manage this fear. They also provide resources for those who are affected by a fear of childbirth.

Ellie Layhe's 2018 article describes some individuals' experience of fear of childbirth.  

Mumsnet is one of the major sources of online information where people share their experiences of pregnancy/childbirth and seek advice.