Professor Jane Barlow

Jane Barlow (DPhil, FFPH Hon) is Professor of Evidence Based Intervention and Policy Evaluation at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford. Jane’s main research interest is the role of early parenting in the aetiology of mental health problems, and the evaluation of interventions aimed at improving parenting practices during pregnancy and the postnatal period. She also undertakes research to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing child abuse. She is currently President of AIMH UK, Affiliate Council Representative of the Executive Board of WAIMH, an Associate Editor for the Infant Mental Health Journal, and was a member of PreVAiL (Preventing Violence Across the Lifespan). 

Research

Jane’s primary research interest is the role of early life factors such as parenting in the aetiology of mental health problems, and the evaluation of early interventions aimed at improving outcomes for parents and young children, particularly during pregnancy and the postnatal period.  

She also undertakes research on the effectiveness of interventions in the field of child protection, and is currently working with the NSPCC to develop a new prebirth pathway to support vulnerable pregnant women, and an intervention for families in which there is domestic abuse. She is also the lead investigator for the national evaluation of the A Better Start (ABS) programme.

Current projects
Completed projects
Publications

Publication list

Recent Systematic Reviews:

  1. Barlow J, Herath NINS, Bartram SC, Bennett C (2018). The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) and Newborn Behavioral Observations system (NBO) for supporting caregivers and improving outcomes in caregivers and their infants. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
  2. O'Hara L, Barlow J, Livingstone N, Macdonald G (2016). Video feedback for improving parental sensitivity and attachment (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 9. Art. No.: CD012348. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012348.
Supervision

Jane would be particularly interested in supervising students interested in evaluating the role of interventions in pregnancy or the postnatal period in improving a range of aspects of parental functioning (e.g. mental health, reflective functioning etc), the interaction between the parent and unborn/newborn child, or infant wellbeing.

Previous Students

Jumana Al Abduwani (Ongoing). Assessing reliability and validity of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory in Arabic Language aong pregnant women in Oman.  Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick.

Jacqueline Stacey (Ongoing). The role of infant massage in increasing parental sensitivity and infant attachment security. Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick. 

Christine Bartram (Ongoing).  The role of the NBO in improving parent-infant interaction. Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick.

Sukhi Sembi (Submitted 2016). Mums4Mums: feasibility RCT of a telephone-based peer support intervention for women with PND.  Warwick Medical School, Univeristy of Warwick. 

Sadaf Akhtar (2015). Forgiveness and Mental Health. Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick. 

Nick Midgley (2014). Child Psychotherapy and Research: Bridging the Gap.  Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick.

Idayu Idris (2013).  Longitudinal study with nested RCT of the prevalence and stability of emotional and behavioural problems in Malyasian school children. Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick.

Angela Underdown (2011). The process of teaching and learning infant massage. Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick.   

Ahmad Abumuttaqin (2011). The social determinants of childhood health in Malaysia.  Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick.

Wendy Robertson (2009). Families for Health: Pilot study of an intervention to treat obesity in Children.  Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick.  

Current students
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