Participation of disadvantaged parents in child care research

Aim To assess the level to which parents from deprived and socially dysfunctional families collaborate in complex and time‐consuming research. Design Home‐based study, of early physiological development in infants from a severely deprived area. Overnight continuous recordings of deep‐body temperature with twice daily urine collection, parental daily diary of life‐events and completion of child care social and psychological assessment by interview questionnaire. Measurements taken between age 6–12 weeks, each lasted 8–12 h per night, averaging four nights per baby. Level of parental participation assessed in relation to ongoing lifestyle pressures. Setting Home based. Inner city deprived estate. Participants Random sample of mothers with newborn healthy infants. Measurements A total of 87 overnight deep body temperature recordings were made on 22 infants each lasting 8–12 h; 174 urine samples were taken; and 22 sets of questionnaires were completed. Results Of 62 inner city deprived parents, 39 (62%) agreed to participate. 22 (35%) completed the study. Ongoing lifestyle pressures were high including incidents of burglary, fire and family violence. Family and partner pressures and life crises overwhelmed 10 non‐participations. Conclusions Research partnerships can be developed with underprivileged families facing severe life‐events. Parents were highly motivated to complete what they perceived as important infant care research.