BackgroundTwenty percent of pregnant women in the UK are obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2), reflecting the growing public health challenge of obesity in the 21st century. Obesity increases the risk of adverse outcomes during pregnancy and birth and has significant cost implications for maternity services. Gestational weight management strategies are a high priority; however the evidence for effective, feasible and acceptable weight control interventions is limited and inconclusive. This qualitative study explored the experiences and perceptions of pregnant women and midwives regarding existing support for weight management in pregnancy and their ideas for service development.MethodsA purposive sample of 6 women and 7 midwives from Doncaster, UK, participated in two separate focus groups. Transcripts were analysed thematically.ResultsTwo overarching themes were identified, 'Explanations for obesity and weight management' and 'Best care for pregnant women'. 'Explanations' included a lack of knowledge about weight, diet and exercise during pregnancy; self-talk messages which excused overeating; difficulties maintaining motivation for a healthy lifestyle; the importance of social support; stigmatisation; and sensitivity surrounding communication about obesity between midwives and their clients. 'Best care' suggested that weight management required care which was consistent and continuous, supportive and non-judgemental, and which created opportunities for interaction and mutual support between obese pregnant women.ConclusionsWomen need unambiguous advice regarding healthy lifestyles, diet and exercise in pregnancy to address a lack of knowledge and a tendency towards unhelpful self-talk messages. Midwives expressed difficulties in communicating with their clients about their weight, given awareness that obesity is a sensitive and potentially stigmatising issue. This indicates more could be done to educate and support them in their work with obese pregnant women. Motivation and social support were strong explanatory themes for obesity and weight management, suggesting that interventions should focus on motivational strategies and social support facilitation.

Adherence to recommendations to wait until 6 months to introduce solid foods into infants' diets is very poor. An in-depth understanding of the factors involved in this decision is essential if health practitioners are to offer suitable advice and health education. A cross-sectional electronic questionnaire study was conducted with 105 mothers recruited via UK-based Internet parenting discussion forums. Ratings of variables important in making the decision to introduce solid foods were analyzed using factor analysis and multiple regression. Open-ended questions were analyzed qualitatively using content analysis. In this sample of educated women, later weaning was found to be associated with a focus on the importance of the recommendations and a perception that health visitor advice and support was poor. Earlier weaning was associated with a focus on the importance of putative weaning signs from the baby. Qualitative analysis revealed a number of conflicting influences on the decision about when to give solid foods: recommendations, guidelines and advice, signs from the baby, beliefs about solids and maternal considerations. The conflict that some mothers experience in deciding when to give their babies solid food between the rigid recommendations, more tailored guidance from health professionals and their perceptions of putative weaning signs from their infants poses a particular problem for those attempting to provide clear and helpful health education information. Future research must assess the extent to which this conflict is prevalent in the general population, and investigate the salience and utility of different health education messages to promote good infant health.

The findings support the efficacy of a new, brief self-affirmation manipulation to enhance the effectiveness of health risk information over time. Further research is needed to identify mediators of the effects of self-affirmation on health behavior change.

Baby-led weaning (BLW) is an approach to introducing solid foods that relies on the presence of self-feeding skills and is increasing in popularity in the UK and New Zealand. This study aimed to investigate the reported experiences and feelings of mothers using a BLW approach in order to better understand the experiences of the mother and infant, the benefits and challenges of the approach, and the beliefs that underpin these experiences. Fifteen UK mothers were interviewed over the course of a series of five emails using a semi-structured approach. The email transcripts were anonymised and analysed using thematic analysis. There were four main themes identified from the analysis: (1) trusting the child; (2) parental control and responsibility; (3) precious milk; and (4) renegotiating BLW. The themes identified reflect a range of ideals and pressures that this group of mothers tried to negotiate in order to provide their infants with a positive and healthy introduction to solid foods. One of the key issues of potential concern is the timing at which some of the children ingested complementary foods. Although complementary foods were made available to the infants at 6 months of age, in many cases they were not ingested until much later. These findings have potentially important implications for mother's decision-making, health professional policy and practice, and future research.

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19, a disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, a pandemic. At the time of writing, there are significant outbreaks across much of the world with Europe identified as the epicentre. It seems clear that health psychology has an important role to play in understanding how people will respond and cope to the threat of COVID-19 and how they will adhere and adapt to transmission-related behaviours including hand washing and self-isolation.Efforts to control and reduce coronavirus transmission rely on behavioural change and maintenance. In 2010, BJHP published a review of 'Demographic and attitudinal determinants of protective behaviours during a pandemic' (Bish & Michie, 2010), finding that communications to promote preventative behaviours should be targeted to specific demographic groups and should focus on raising perceived threat and the effectiveness of behavioural measures to reduce risk. Susan Michie and colleagues have recently written about understanding behaviour and behavioural strategies for reducing COVID-19 transmission (https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/03/03/behavioural-strategies-for-reducingcovid-19-transmission-in-the-general-population/ and https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/ 03/11/slowing-down-the-covid-19-outbreak-changing-behaviour-by-understanding-it/) drawing on the COM-B model (Michie et al., 2011) to identify issues of capability, opportunity, and motivation that might impact on behaviours and discussing behavioural strategies to address barriers.Beyond behaviour change, health psychology also has a role in understanding how people might respond to and cope with the threat of a global pandemic and changes to their lives that are made in an effort to reduce that threat. The Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin has recently produced a working paper on 'Using behavioural science to help fight the coronavirus' (Lunn et al., 2020 https://www.esri. ie/system/files/publications/WP656.pdf) which in addition to personal hygiene behaviours, considers pro-social behaviours, panic-buying, communication, risk perception, and the impacts of isolation. In 2013, BJHP published the findings of a survey conducted during the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 that indicated the importance of precise and clear information about control measures for reducing anxiety (Taha et al., 2014). Brooks et al. (2020) recently published a rapid review focusing on the psychological impact of quarantine and how best to enable people to cope which reported the importance of clear information, and that voluntary quarantine is 'associated with less distress and fewer long-term complications'.

OBJECTIVES: The principal objective of the present paper was to investigate the utility of an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) for discriminating between stages of the transtheoretical model (TTM). DESIGN: Congruent with Sutton (2000) a cross-sectional design was employed. The study (N = 331) investigated the TPB and TTM in the domain of health-related food choice. METHOD: The study utilized a questionnaire methodology. The data were analysed using analyses of variance and polynomial contrast analyses. RESULTS: Results showed a significant linear trend for all TPB variables across TTM stages, although there were significant quadratic relationships between TTM stage and both subjective norm and behavioural intention. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that TTM stage might best be regarded as a proxy measure of behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides evidence to support the utility of the TPB but casts doubt on the TTM. Further research is required to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions targeted at individuals in certain stages with variables informed by the TPB, and to extend the present findings beyond the domain of health-related food choice.

Stage of change moderated these effects such that implementation intentions worked best for individuals who were in the preparation stage at baseline. Conclusion. Harnessing both motivational and volitional processes seems to enhance the effectiveness of smoking cessation

BackgroundThe National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidance on weight management in pregnancy in July 2010 (NICE public health guidance 27: 2010), and this received considerable press coverage across a range of media. This offered an opportunity to examine how gestational weight management guidance was received by UK women.MethodsA thematic analysis was conducted of 400 posts made in UK-based parenting internet forums in the week following the publication of the NICE guidance. This allowed us to examine the naturally occurring comments from 202 women who posted about the guidance on public forums.ResultsThree main themes were identified and explored: i) Perceived control/responsibility ii) Risk perception iii) Confused messages.ConclusionsWomen differed in their perceptions of the level of control that they had over being overweight with some feeling responsible and motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Others felt there were multiple factors influencing their weight issues beyond their control. There were reports of feeling guilty about the impact of weight on the growing baby and experiencing significant obesity stigma from the public and health professionals. Information about the risks of overweight and obesity in pregnancy were difficult messages for women to hear, and for health professionals to deliver. Women reported being confused by the messages that they received. Health messages need to be delivered sensitively to women, and health professionals need support and training to do this. Risk information should always be accompanied with clear advice and support to help women to manage their weight in pregnancy.