{"id":160486,"date":"2020-05-04T07:15:30","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T11:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=160486"},"modified":"2020-04-30T14:50:15","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T18:50:15","slug":"meet-researcher-cheryl-beck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/05\/meet-researcher-cheryl-beck\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Researcher: Cheryl Beck"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a certified nurse-midwife in the 1980s, Cheryl Beck saw her patients struggling with postpartum depression, which was poorly understood and under-researched. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI saw how the women were suffering,\u201d says Cheryl Beck, now a distinguished professor in the University of Connecticut School of Nursing. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Because of this experience, Cheryl Beck has dedicated her career to helping women suffering from the negative mental health impacts of giving birth. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When she turned to available medical textbooks for information about how to help her patients, Beck found there was very little information about postpartum depression beyond a brief note that the condition existed. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beck began researching postpartum depression, with a focus on qualitative research methods which allowed women to tell their own stories. She also developed the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Since the 1980s, Beck has seen dramatic growth in the amount of research focused on postpartum depression. Her own research has since branched out to other postpartum anxiety and mood disorders. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A Turning Point <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

In 2000, Beck was presenting her research on postpartum panic disorders at a Marc<\/span>\u00e9<\/span> International Perinatal Mental Health conference in New Zealand. During the conference, a mother shared her experience with PTSD from her birth trauma. The mother then discussed with Beck the possibility of researching this poorly understood phenomenon, and with that Beck\u2019s research headed in a new direction. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes researchers are just really lucky and are at the right place at the right time,\u201d Beck says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This woman helped connect Beck to a network of women who were suffering from PTSD through the <\/span>Trauma and Birth Stress (TABS)<\/a> group. This partnership put Beck in contact with hundreds of women who contributed their stories and experience with PTSD and birth trauma to her research. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a researcher, it was the best gift ever \u2013 having the potential of connecting with these participants from across the globe,\u201d Beck says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A woman can experience a traumatic birth even if there were no major medical complications or birth defects, explains Beck. What the women Beck interviewed had in common, regardless of the physical ease or complication of the birth itself, was the feeling that their obstetrical clinicians did not care about them and of being stripped of their dignity during the birth. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat sets the stage for viewing their birth as traumatic,\u201d Beck says. \u201cThey felt like they were being assaulted on the delivery table with everyone watching and no one offering to help.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ripple Effect <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0Beck describes birth trauma as an \u201cever-widening ripple effect.\u201d The traumatic event may only last minutes or hours but the women who go through a traumatic birth will contend with its effects for years. The trauma is like a small pebble tossed in a pond whose ripples keep expanding, says Beck. Some of the ripples Beck identified in her program of research are the impact on mothers\u2019 ability to bond with their infants, developing PTSD, and subsequent births.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One such ripple of birth trauma Beck has studied is its impact on breastfeeding. Beck found there are typically two paths for women who had traumatic births. Women either breastfeed for an extended period of time as a form of atonement for bringing their child into the world in such a traumatic way, or they do not breastfeed at all or for just a short period of time. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another ripple Beck has studied focuses on the anniversary of the trauma, in this case their child\u2019s birthday. The women are often forgotten on this day again as celebrations focus on the child. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beck found that women often begin to experience physical and psychological stress in the days leading up to the anniversary more so than on the date itself. After the trauma anniversary, the women must begin healing all over again. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey felt like their wounds reopened and it took time to recover,\u201d Beck says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beck\u2019s research has reached women around the world from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. Through this global perspective, Beck has seen how universal these women\u2019s experiences are. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe key is that the themes involved in women\u2019s narratives of their traumatic births are all the same,\u201d Beck says.\u00a0 \u201cNo matter where we live in the world or where it took place.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beck\u2019s participants span from mothers whose children are only a few weeks old to those with children in their 30s. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beck\u2019s research has shown that some women who experience traumatic births are able to grow from the experience. This is called posttraumatic growth. As with any kind of trauma, there are five areas of growth: developing a greater appreciation for life, fostering better relationships with others, an increased sense of personal strength, pursuing new paths and possibilities and spiritual developments. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor some women there is a little positive light at the end of the tunnel that they can experience this growth,\u201d Beck says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Women Helping Women <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Beck often gets inspiration for future research from the women in her studies. \u201cThe women, they always teach me,\u201d Beck says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For Beck, sharing women\u2019s stories in their own voices is one of the most rewarding parts of her research. While quantitative research is critical to understanding these disorders and developing clinical treatments, so is hearing women speak about their own experiences in a way numbers cannot possibly convey. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many benefits that I\u2019m helping give voices to women,\u201d Beck says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another benefit of sharing these stories is that it helps normalize this experience. In a culture which focuses almost exclusively on images of happy new motherhood, women who experienced traumatic births are often sidelined and ignored. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost often a society just likes to think about happy motherhood,\u201d Beck says. \u201cThey only show happy new mothers. The media doesn\u2019t like to look at the dark side of new motherhood.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Research participants often tell her they hope sharing their stories will help other women who are struggling. Women experiencing PTSD may feel there is something wrong with them for not fitting with these images of new motherhood. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPart of my research is to explain to women it\u2019s nothing they did wrong and that they\u2019re not weak,\u201d Beck says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beck holds a DNSc from Boston University and a MSN in maternal newborn nursing and a CNM from Yale University in Nurse-Midwifery. She holds a joint appointment in the UConn School of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Follow UConn Research on<\/em> Twitter<\/em><\/a> &<\/em> LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cheryl Beck has devoted her research career to helping women struggling with postpartum depression and traumatic birth experiences. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":160488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1877,2231,2076,2225],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-160486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nur","category-health-well-being","category-research","category-uconn-storrs","series-meet-the-researcher"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 14:26:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160486"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160490,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160486\/revisions\/160490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/160488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160486"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=160486"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=160486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}