| Summary: | <p class="first" id="d2497e112">
As well as conducting research in developmental science, baby and child labs face
additional pressures. They must demonstrate public engagement and research impact,
while also recruiting enough participants to conduct research, something that can
be particularly challenging with infants and young children. These different pressures
compete for time and resources, leaving researchers struggling to engage effectively
in all such activities. Here we describe a low-cost, easy-to-implement, enjoyable
and effective means of simultaneously addressing the challenges of recruitment, public
engagement and research impact. It started with a process of listening and knowledge
exchange with relevant local stakeholders to discern the interests and needs of the
local infant community (including families, health professionals and businesses).
This process led to the establishment of a fortnightly educational and support group
for pregnant women and mothers of young infants, which met in the lab. This group
combined peer discussion, presentations on developmental psychology, and ‘taster’
activities for mothers and infants from local businesses. Data collected from questionnaires
from the first and final sessions indicated significant improvements in participants’
understanding of relevant concepts in developmental psychology, and showed that participants
found this information helpful and reported using it at home. Participants also reported
feeling more socially connected and more confident as mothers as a result of the group.
The group also served to boost research participation, with 94 per cent of participants
subsequently taking part in lab research or signing up to be contacted about future
research. This approach can be employed by baby and child labs looking for ways to
effectively and enjoyably promote public engagement and research impact, and for those
looking to establish strong relationships with local stakeholders. The success of
this strategy demonstrates that the aims of recruitment, public engagement and research
impact need not be competing pressures on researchers’ time, but can be mutually supporting
aspects of the research process.
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