commissioning. The JSNA highlighted the need to obtain the views of mothers about current services to support breastfeeding and use the findings to inform service planning. This research addresses this need. 3.Research question The research question, developed through discussions in relation to the contextual factors discussed above, was: What are the experiences of mothers (with a focus on support) in South Gloucestershire in relation to infant feeding in the first 6-8 weeks? The research question reflected the project intention; it would enable mothers to talk about what was important to them, not just the issue of support, but also give an opportunity to focus on the experience of support. 4.Methods 4.1 Research team roles A research team was established, with members including Dr Sally Dowling (SD, Principal Investigator), Associate Professor Mat Jones (MJ) and Dr Melanie Fraser (MF) from the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England (UWE) and Liz Oxford (LO) and Nicola Ellis (NE) from the Public Health Children and Young People (PH CYP) team, South Gloucestershire Council. Once the principles of the research were agreed and ethical approval obtained, the group met five times during the research process, with subgroups meeting once to agree development of the interview schedule; and three times for data analysis purposes. Individual roles during the research process included: Refinement of the research proposal and design: SD, MF, MJ, LO, NE Development of interview schedule: MF, LO, NE, SD Recruitment: NE Data collection: MF, NE, LO Data coding: SD, MF, MJ, NE, LO Data analysis and Interpretation: SD, MF, MJ Report: SD, LO, NE, MJ, MF 4.2 Methodology In this small scale research the intention was to learn about the breastfeeding experiences of local mothers. A qualitative approach was, therefore, most appropriate and the research design adopted a purposive sampling strategy, based on criteria sampling. Breastfeeding in South Gloucestershire: Mothers’ Early Experiences of Infant Feeding 10 A series of in-depth interviews were planned using a semi-structured interview schedule, enabling collection of rich data, from which themes could be identified. The intention was to interview 24 mothers. This number was chosen for pragmatic reasons only; time and financial constraints limited the number of possible interviews. This is, however, an acceptable number of interviews for a small-scale qualitative project (Braun et al, 2013). An alternative approach, using focus groups, was discounted since it was recognised that finding a mutually convenient time to bring together a group of mothers and their babies would be impractical and time consuming. 4.3 Access, sampling and recruitment Partnership support Between March and May 2016, managers in Midwifery, Health Visiting and Children’s Centres were emailed by the Public Health Programme Lead for Children and Young People, explaining the proposed research and requesting support. Visits to ‘Baby and me’ groups It was agreed that the primary focus for recruitment would be Baby and Me groups at each of the six Children’s Centres. Baby and Me is a ten or eleven week course for parents with babies under one year old. The courses aim to support parent and baby relationships, encourage confident parenting and provide an opportunity for parents to build a social network. In the possible event of low recruitment, alternative plans were discussed. The process of recruitment included: · May 2016: An email and briefing note were sent to the Children’s Centres Locality Practice Managers requesting support for the research and contact then made with the Senior Engagement Worker at each Children’s Centre (Appendix C). · 14 June - 1 July 2016: the Baby and Me groups were visited at each Children’s Centres to invite participation. At each visit, the research was introduced and an information sheet given out (Appendix D). A form was left with the Engagement Worker for mothers to record an expression of interest in taking part with their name, contact details, and preferred day and time for an interview. The form was collected the following week. Recruitment was very successful with 53 mothers expressing interest in taking part, although the research budget and time schedule restricted recruitment to the interview stage to 24 mothers. There was good interest across all the Children’s Centres with the exception of Staple Hill. Breastfeeding in South Gloucestershire: Mothers’ Early Experiences of Infant Feeding 11 Criteria for selection The criteria for selection were: Mothers who had had experience of breastfeeding, even for a very short period of time, in the first 6-8 weeks of their baby’s life, and: · who had a baby up to 6 months of age (chosen to maximise mothers’ recall), and · who were currently engaged with a Children’s Centre in South Gloucestershire Organisation of interviews Mothers from the list of 53 who had expressed interest were contacted by list order and availability by telephone and, if they met the selection criteria and were still interested in participation, an interview was arranged on a convenient day and time at their Children’s Centre. Confirmation of the arrangements were sent by text with a reminder 24 hours beforehand. 24 mothers attended the arranged interviews. No financial incentives were