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Writing until the end of time & early reflection on findings

The time has come, people… analysis is finished, and I am now focusing entirely on writing up my thesis.

It is a (somewhat) exciting stage in my journey, marking a new milestone for me. Even though I have been writing as I go along (not just saying this in case my supervisors read this), there has never been a time so far where the only task I have to do is write. When I realised there would be no more active research, I felt sick with dread, as it meant that I had to come face to face with the mammoth task of getting 100,000 words down on some paper. This isn’t helped by the fact that my autistic brain struggles with actively moving on from one task to another, and I have been so deeply entrenched within my data analysis that I was met with some serious task inertia. I have, however, coped with this in a couple of ways, which I will share in case there are any other students (PhD or otherwise) who struggle with being met with the “off you go write your thesis now” task.

Number one: BREAK DOWN YOUR TASKS!!!!

100,000 words, yes. But many different chapters/subheadings/paragraphs, etc., also, yes. Learn from my mistakes and do not simply write in your daily to-do list “write thesis” as more than likely this won’t get done on your average Thursday, and it will leave you feeling repeatedly disappointed when you can never seem to tick it off your list. Break. It. Down. For me, this meant making two different Gantt charts in Excel: one that would track monthly progress and would be bigger tasks like “Finish Chapter 5”, for example, and another where I would break down the multiple steps it would take to finish writing Chapter 5. This way, I can open up my writing Gantt chart and clearly see what I want to get done for the day or week, tick those off more frequently, and eventually add up to a greater task I can tick off monthly. Does that make sense?! I hope so.

If you are not an Excel superfan like me (first off, why not?) then you can opt for different ways of doing this. There are a bunch of apps/websites out there to help you make Gantt charts (e.g., Monday) or other ways to track progress that don’t resemble a Gantt chart (ThistlesGrow apparently is one of those?). I am not the one to ask about the latter, though, as I have an affiliation with Gantt charts; my apologies. Alas, find something that works for you, but as long as it breaks things down into actually achievable tasks, you will notice your productivity skyrocket… damn, I am starting to sound like a motivational speaker…

Number two: Take breaks… like actual breaks!!

Step away from the computer from time to time. Touch some grass. Do some art. Read a book. The world is still turning outside of your Word document; go engage with it from time to time. For me, this varies between hugging my cat (often against his will), going swimming, or lying down in a dark room with a weighted blanket if even the world outside is too much. Remember: resting is productive too!

Finally: Don’t wish away your time

This one is slightly different and may not help you with writing per se, but I still find it important. It can be easy, as a PhD student, to constantly think about what’s next (I do), and in many ways, that can be very helpful and ensure you are equipped for the next stages of your career. But at the same time, dwelling on how early you are in your career can mean wishing away your years. Try to strike a good balance between living in the moment and preparing yourself for the next steps. This means cut down on comparisons to others and to where they are in their careers, and focus on you. Your PhD might seem all-encompassing now, but there will come a time when you yearn for those days back; enjoy them whilst you can.

Early reflection on my findings

On a different note, I also wanted to use this post to provide an update on my PhD findings and share a reflection I have had whilst collecting and analysing my data. I have now interviewed seven participants, longitudinally over 2-4 interviews each. As mentioned in my project summary, I have also used creative participatory research methods in my interviews and derived narratives from each person’s experiences. Whilst the ultimate goal in doing this was to keep each person’s story as integral as possible, I have recognised some patterns across people’s experiences (autism brain in pattern-recognition mode). Without giving too much away, as you will have to wait until the final thesis and any outputs from this work to see the findings, I wanted to share a reflection that other autistic people might relate to more generally. This reflection is also grounded in my own self-discovery. I was diagnosed autistic whilst data collecting, and have been engaging in post-diagnostic support to learn about my own autism as I was analysing data, which means I have been doing lots and lots of thinking.

There is so much power in peer support. We (autistic people) often get branded as unsociable or isolated individuals, but actually, when we truly connect with others that are similar to ourselves, we thrive. The most crucial bit of support all of my participants spoke of, which I very much relate to, is being able to chat with someone else who is neurodivergent. For my participants, this was especially helpful if they were autistic parents or parents to be themselves. In fact, for many, peer support was the single most influential form of support they had ever received. I can’t help but agree. There is no feeling more validating than speaking with someone who experiences the world like you do, and therefore, what I am really taking away from my PhD and from my own experiences accessing autistic peer support is that surrounding yourself with people who truly understand is essential for your well-being. I touched on this when chatting with Damien from (Neuro)Diverse Dialogues (episode dropping in September). I am always happy to chat if you are neurodivergent yourself and do not have this kind of support network, as I know just how crucial it can be. If you find yourself in this situation, drop me an email, and we can break down the socialising stereotypes one chat at a time.

And with that, I finish up my second (third maybe… not sure) blog post and get back to writing my thesis. Hopefully, I will have some updates to share in the near future regarding some outputs, but for now, please wish me luck on my journey to 100,000 words.

[I will now be signing off with a photo of my cats for the foreseeable]

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Update – going into year 3 of the project!

As we come to the end of the year, I wanted to provide the first update of the PhD project since making the website. Below is an overview of how the project has been progressing across the work packages. As a reminder, you can visit About the Project to see an overview of the three studies (two work packages – sorry I know it is confusing!) .

Umbrellas and Documents – Let’s talk work package 1

As far as work package one (WP1) goes, the team and I have made a good chunk of progress.

Study 1 – The Umbrella Review

Analysis is close to comepletion for the systematic review, with a couple of extra additions being added from a recent updated search. Findings plan to be shared in the next year or so, with a draft of an academic paper being close to finish! An abstract has also been submitted for the UK Public Health Sciences Conference being hosted in Newcastle in April 2026. Fingers crossed all things go well and we can share some systematic review outputs in the coming year…

Study 2 – The Document Analysis

The document analysis is also close to complete. The findings (which I find are eye opening – but I suppose I am bias!) have been presented at a number of meetings. Firstly, I had the privilge of attending the European Health Psychology Society Conference in August 2025, and travelling to the Netherlands for the very first time. I’ve added some photos of the trip below!

It was super exciting to present the findings of WP1b at the conference, as an Early Career Spotlight Talk, and I engaged in some really meaningful and insightful conversations around the findings and reflections on methods used.

I was also then lucky enough to have been asked to present the findings at the launch of the Maternity and Autism Research Group’s Best Practice Guidelines. I was hugely grateful for the opportunity, again, to use the findings as key background to why the production of these guidelines are so important and timely. You can check out the guidelines, along with the recording of my talk over on the MARG website: Guidelines | MARG

2026 also aims to be the year that I submit a draft of WP1b to an academic journal. This draft is underway, and I hope to provide further updates soon!

Analysing creative arts data – what could go wrong? An update on work package two

Work Package Two (WP2) is coming along nicely too, despite the sarcastic title! We have so far had excellent engagement in the longitudinal interviews, and hope to have completed data collection by early 2026. Not only is the data richer than bournville chocolate, but we have also had some super creative minds take part in this study. From crochet scarfs and cross-stitch, to photographs, poetry and painting, we have collected some fascinating pieces alongside people’s pregnancy and birth stories. To help me with analysing this relatively complex (but exciting) web of data, I have taken part in some training on the analysis method I plan to use – Narrative Analysis, with the social research association. Now that I have all the tools and knowledge ready- once data collection is complete it is go go go with transcribing, coding, analysing, and co-shaping wonderful narratives from real life experiences.

In terms of outputs for this work package, it is still early days. However, I have been kindly asked to present my PhD work at the North East Autism Research Group meeting in December (tomorrow as I write this) and I have chosen to share my reflections on this work package. I felt it important to share with other autism researchers, that you can co-create accessible materials for a study, be flexible in your approach to research engagement, and allow people to express themselves meaningfully, when speaking with under-served populations within the autistic community. By sharing these reflections, and some examples of my work (you can see these under Study Materials), I hope to encourage other researchers to think more widely (and creatively!) about how they can conduct research with autistic people, beyond traditional methods (survey, 1-1 interviews, focus groups).

Hopefully I will have updates next year regarding some findings, and be underway with writing and publishing some academic papers! But in the meantime, I need to get my head down and transcribe around 20 hours of interview data (such fun!).

Some other (but related) news

A wonderful colleague of mine, Verity Westgate, who I met through MARG has had a paper published on staff experiences of supporting autistic women and people in Community Perinatal Mental Health Teams. I had the honour of being a part of this work, and seeing a paper being published with my name on it, in a topic I am so passionate about, is super exciting. Hopefully more to come soon!

You can read the full paper here: “I ask them what autism means for them”: a qualitative study of staff experiences of working with autistic women and birthing people in community perinatal mental health teams – PubMed

Thanks for reading!

Signing off with a personal update – I became a mother of two fur babies in the last half of the year, which has helped greatly with rapport buidling during Teams call interviews. Big thanks to Edgar and Earl for helping me with participant retention!

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Welcome (first official post!?)

This website is designed to offer news and updates on the PhD project conducted by me (Caitlin Thompson) at Newcastle Univeristy, which aims to explore the perinatal care experiences of autistic women and people.

News and updates of both the project itself and any events will be posted here.

This website has been designed to share information about the PhD project undertaken by Caitlin Thompson at Newcastle University, which aims to explore how we can best support autistic women and birthing people accross the perinatal period.

Updates will be posted here by, Caitlin, on project progression, upcoming events and presentations, and ways to get involved.