Staff profile

Catherine graduated from Durham University in 2007 with a BSc in Medical Anthropology (Health and Human Sciences). Catherine was awarded an ESRC/MRC 1+3 postgraduate studentship and continued to study at Durham completing an MA in Research Methods in Anthropology in 2008 and a PhD in Medical Anthropology in 2014. During her postgraduate study she was supervised by Prof. Helen Ball and became a member of the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre team (formerly Parent-Infant Sleep Lab). Catherine’s PhD research was a qualitative follow-up of a large randomised trial known as the North-East Cot Trial (NECOT) which investigated the impact of cot type (stand-alone v’s side-car crib) on breastfeeding outcomes among mother-infant dyads in North-East England.

Whilst completing her postgraduate research, Catherine was awarded internship funding by Durham University to complete a three month long placement in 2010 at the charity Diabetes UK. This was followed in 2011 by successful ESRC/MRC bid for Overseas Institutional Visit Funding enabling Catherine to spend two months at the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the University of North Carolina (UNC), USA.

Since completing her PhD in 2014, Catherine has continued to work as a Research Associate/ Manager at the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre and has worked on a range of research projects.

Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre projects include:

• Coping with Infant Sleep Project (Sleep, Baby & You): development and piloting of an information tool for health professionals to use when supporting parents to manage infant related sleep disruptions. In collaboration with Possums Clinic, Australia.
• Evaluation project of Infant Sleep Info Source website (consequently rebranded as Baby Sleep Info Source BASIS): systematic collection and analysis of user feedback with the purpose of updating and refreshing the website and app.
• Baby boxes in the UK: an investigation into a new NHS scheme distributing cardboard boxes and educational materials to parents via a third party provider.
• Let’s Talk About Sleep! A new approach for improving infant sleep-sharing: development of a safer sleep discussion tool to be used by health practitioners when providing parents with an in-bed safer sleep box.

Other activities include: designing and carrying out patient and public involvement work; conference and workshop organisation; infant sleep product evaluation; content development of BASIS website.

In addition to her work at The Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre, Catherine has been a Research Associate on projects across different Durham University departments since completing her PhD. Topics include: diabetes; commissioning of public health services; fuel poverty; and teen sleep.

Publications

Book Chapter

C.E. Taylor, H.L. Ball & K. Tully. 2015. ‘Using video observations to understand night-time experiences of mothers and babies on a UK post-natal ward.’ Ch. 5 in Ethnographic Research in Maternal and Child Health, edited by Dr Fiona Dykes and Dr Renée Flacking.

Journal articles

Taylor, C.E. & H.L. Ball. What are parents’ perceptions of baby boxes and how are they using them? An online survey of parents and practitioners in England (in preparation).

Ball, H.L. & C.E. Taylor, 2020. Baby-box schemes in England: parent and practitioner experiences, and recommendations. BMC Pediatrics.

Ball, H.L., C.E Taylor, V. Thomas, P.S. Douglas & SBY the working group. 2020. Development and evaluation of Sleep, Baby & You- an approach to supporting parental well-being and responsive infant caregiving. Plos One.

Taylor, C.E. and H.L. Ball. 2013. ‘Maternal perception of their post-natal breastfeeding experience and participation in the NECOT Trial.’ Maternal and Child Nutrition 9 (Suppl. 3): 1-41.

Taylor, C.E. 2013. Post-natal care and breastfeeding experiences: A qualitative investigation following a randomised trial of side-car crib use (NECOT Trial). PhD Thesis, Durham University.

Published Reports

Marks L., S. Visram, S. Brown, H. Davis, D.J. Hunter, D. Liu, A. Mason, J.Smithson, C. Taylor. 2015. Commissioning public health services: the impact of the health reforms on access, health inequalities and innovation in service provision. Research Report (1): Views of national stakeholders. Durham University. Available here

Mason, A., D. Liu, L. Marks, D.J. Hunter, S. Visram, J. Smithson, C. Taylor, S Visram. 2015. Commissioning public health services: the impact of the health reforms on access, health inequalities and innovation in service provision. Research Report (2): The public Health Budget. Durham University. Available here

Taylor, C., L. Marks, J. Smithson, H. Davis, D.J. Hunter, D. Liu, A. Mason, S. Visram. 2015 (revised 2016). Commissioning public health services: the impact of the health reforms on access, health inequalities and innovation in service provision. Research Report (3): National Surveys. Durham University. Available here

Marks, L., A. Mason, D. Liu, C. Taylor, S. Visram, H. Davis, D.J. Hunter, J. Smithson. 2015 (revised 2016). Commissioning public health services: the impact of the health reforms on access, health inequalities and innovation in service provision. Research Report (4): National Surveys. Durham University. Available here

PhD Thesis

Taylor, C.E. 2013. Post-natal care and breastfeeding experiences: A qualitative investigation following a randomised trial of side-car crib use (NECOT Trial). PhD Thesis, Durham University.

Research Projects

Department of Anthropology

• NECOT: North East Cot Trial
• Risk and Reality Project
• Let’s Talk About Sleep!
• Coping with Infant Sleep (Let’s Talk About Sleep)
• Evaluation project of Infant Sleep Info Source website
• Baby boxes in the UK

School of Medicine Pharmacy and Health

• Personalised Medicine of Diabetes Survey (PMODS Project)
• Commissioning Public Health Services

Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM)

• Household Energy Usage and Children’s Educational Outcomes (fuel poverty)
• Teen Sleep Project

• Parent-Infant sleep
• Infant care practices
• Breastfeeding
• Maternity services
• Medical Anthropology
• Qualitative health research
• Maternal-Infant health

• NECOT: North East Cot Trial

Journal Article

• Ball, Helen L., Taylor, Catherine E. & Yuill, Cassandra M. (2021). A box to put the baby in: UK parent perceptions of two box programmes promoted for infant sleep. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18(21): 11473
• Ball, Helen L. & Taylor, Catherine E. (2020). Baby-box schemes in England: parent and practitioner experiences, and recommendations. BMC Pediatrics 20(1): 154.