Publications 

Stafford, L., Munns, L., Crossland, A. E., Kirk, E., & Preston, C. E. (2024). Bonding with bump: Interoceptive sensibility moderates the relationship between pregnancy body satisfaction and antenatal attachment. Midwifery, 131, 103940.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026661382400024X

Research summary: 

Background and problem: The body undergoes transformative changes during pregnancy. This includes how the body looks, such as the development of a baby bump. These changes can make mothers feel connected to their baby, for example by touching or stroking the bump. As a result, some research has linked an expectant mother’s satisfaction with their pregnant body to the bond they have with their unborn baby. Said bond is important for postnatal mental health. However, other research has failed to find an association between satisfaction with bodily appearance and bond with the unborn baby. This might be because they did not consider the role of the internal body in this relationship. The internal body may be important in this relationship as like the external appearance, it also undergoes massive changes and can be used to connect mother and baby. For example, heart rate increases with pregnancy and kicks and movements from the fetus might make the mother feel closer to their baby. 

Aim: Therefore, in order to gain a more holistic understanding of the role of the pregnancy body experience to antenatal bonding, this research considered the relative contribution of the external and internal body. 

Methods: Survey data from 159 pregnant participants. 

Findings: Increased body dissatisfaction was associated with decreased antenatal attachment. However, this relationship was changed by how much they worried about signals from the internal body. For high levels of worry about internal signals, greater dissatisfaction with pregnant bodily appearance was not associated with a weaker bond. For low levels of worry about internal signals, greater dissatisfaction with pregnancy bodily appearance was associated with a weaker bond. 

Discussion: For expectant mothers who are unhappy with their bodily appearance, high levels of worry about internal signals may be protective against a weak bond with their unborn baby. This might be because worrying about internal bodily signals removes their attention from dislike of their body. 

Conclusion: Dislike of the maternal external body can be detrimental to antenatal bonds, but the internal body may be a decisive factor in determining how detrimental this is. 

Stafford, L., Preston, C., & Pike, A. C. (2024). Participant Use of Artificial Intelligence in Online Focus Groups: An Experiential Account. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241286417 

Research summary: 

Background and problem: Adapting methods like focus groups and interviews to take place online via video conferencing software is beneficial for several reasons. Reducing the need for participants to travel increases accessibility and geographical reach. However, one problem with this is that participants may decide to add to the discussion via the chat box rather than their microphone. This is something that we experienced when running online focus groups, despite asking that they have them on in the email invite. There are valid reasons to use the chat box over microphone, like a fear of being overheard by family/housemates. However, another possibility is that they were using the chat box to provide ChatGPT generated answers. 

Aim:  To provide systematic evidence that participants may be pasting ChatGPT answers into the chat box. 

Methods: 12 online focus groups with 78 people. 42 participants provided chat box answers. 

Findings: 9 participants were suspected of providing ChatGPT generated responses.

Discussion: Whilst ChatGPT may be a useful tool to help participants to verbalise their answers, a big problem with this is that ‘new’ data is not created. This is because ChatGPT responds to prompts using data that already exists, surely failing to provide any new insights into a research topic. There are ways researchers could prevent and identify ChatGPT generated responses, but the preventative measures limit accessibility (e.g. for people with speech difficulties) and indicators can run the risk that researchers ‘cherry pick’ their data. Instead, researchers may have to consider consulting with a member of a focus group who answered using the microphone to ensure that, even with the inclusion of the suspected ChatGPT generated responses in the data set, the analysis captures how a phenomenon is subjectively experienced. Alternatively, researchers could compare the findings from the data set that includes ChatGPT generated responses to the findings from a data set that excludes them and then check for substantial differences. Substantial differences can then provide reason for excluding the suspected ChatGPT responses. 

Conclusion: Participants may be using the chat box in focus groups so they can answer questions with ChatGPT generated responses. Researchers may have to conduct an extra step of qualitative analysis to protect the integrity of their data.  

Stafford, L., Preston, C., & Pike, A. C. (n.d.). "I feel full with shame": A qualitative perspective on gastric interoceptive sensibility. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/9c4yd_v4 

Background: Dysfunctional gastric interoception has been posited as a maintenance factor for eating disorders and gastrointestinal symptoms. Previous research has yet to use qualitative methods to ask these populations how they subjectively experience signals from their gastric system: gastric interoceptive sensibility. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how gastric signals are sensed, interpreted, and regulated in eating disorders, gastric disorders, and control populations. 

Methods: 15 semi-structured focus groups (n=96) were conducted with participants. Transcripts underwent hybrid deductive and inductive thematic analysis. 

Findings: 4 main themes were identified. Within 1) Physical experience of hunger, satiation, and fullness, some participants described these states as physically unpleasant. Others described satiation as an absence of any distinct sensations. For 2) Perception of hunger, satiation, and fullness, participants discussed their noticing, interpretation, purposeful attention for, and reactivity to sensations of hunger, satiation, and fullness. Theme 3), the Emotional impact of gastric sensations of hunger, satiation, and fullness, included discussions around how hunger, satiation, and fullness could benefit their emotional state but also harm it, and for some satiation had no impact on their emotional state. For 4) Responses to hunger and fullness, participants reported searching for relief from these states, compensating, accepting, and distracting from fullness, and body-checking. 

Discussion: The current study informs us of the distinct factors that might be considered part of interoceptive sensibility. It may also inform the development of interoceptive exposure therapies for the treatment of eating disorders and gastric disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome.