No Cover Image

Journal article 15 views

The Feasibility and Acceptability of a Community Science Approach to Explore Infant Formula Preparation Safety in the Home

Sara Jones Orcid Logo, Jonie Cooper, Abbie Dolling, Tara McNamara, Susan Dvorak, Vicky Sibson Orcid Logo, Amy Brown Orcid Logo, Emma Yhnell Orcid Logo, Phyll Buchanan Orcid Logo, Sharon Breward, Rebecca Ellis Orcid Logo, Aimee Grant Orcid Logo

Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, Volume: 10, Issue: 1

Swansea University Authors: Sara Jones Orcid Logo, Amy Brown Orcid Logo, Rebecca Ellis Orcid Logo, Aimee Grant Orcid Logo

Full text not available from this repository: check for access using links below.

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.5334/cstp.692

Abstract

Parents often seek out information about health and parenting topics, but despite this, there have been few attempts to actively engage them in the research process. We aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using community science (CS) in a pilot study to explore infant formula prepar...

Full description

Published in: Citizen Science: Theory and Practice
ISSN: 2057-4991 2057-4991
Published: Ubiquity Press, Ltd. 2025
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68462
Abstract: Parents often seek out information about health and parenting topics, but despite this, there have been few attempts to actively engage them in the research process. We aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using community science (CS) in a pilot study to explore infant formula preparation safety in the home in the United Kingdom.Parents were involved at each research stage, including (i) pre-funding consultation (n = 17), (ii) research design (n = 19), (iii) data generation (n = 151), (iv) research education (n = 8), (v) data analysis (n = 5), (vi) reflections on participation in CS (n = 151) and participation in the data analysis group (n = 5), and (vii) the development of research outputs (n = 5).Parents proposed that a closed Facebook group would be a feasible platform for CS. This had limited effectiveness in engaging parents in research design but was more successful in recruitment to the data generation stage. Many parents reported enjoyment in taking part and feeling valued for their knowledge, although for a minority, increased awareness of the risks of preparing infant formula caused distress. Research education engagement on social media was limited. The small data analysis group allowed for more in-depth contributions; however, facilitation was resource intensive so was necessarily limited.Participant fatigue is a risk in CS. Solutions to ongoing engagement, especially (in our case) with research education, are needed. Researchers must also mitigate harm to community scientists arising from their involvement in investigating sensitive topics. Existing research contexts created barriers, so in practice, more funding is needed to facilitate CS.
Keywords: community science, citizen science, participatory research, infant formula, social media, research, parenting research
College: Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
Funders: UKRI, BB/W009188/1
Issue: 1