‘Knowledge is power’: risk and the moral responsibilities of the expectant mother at the turn of the twentieth century

Hallgrímsdóttir, Helga Kristín; Benner, Bryan Eric

doi:10.1080/13698575.2013.866216

Cited by 36 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…For example, Hammer and Inglin (2014) document differences in the relative 'riskiness' of smoking and alcohol during pregnancy, and also explore the dangers of attracting moral sanction through failures in self-control Health, Risk & Society 485 that might damage women's identity as 'good mothers' (p. 31). In fact, the observation that sociocultural beliefs about risks become internalised through self-governance and self-regulation is a feature of all the 'special issue' papers, including related papers in this issue (Chadwick & Foster, 2014;Coxon et al, 2014;Hallgrimsdottir & Benner, 2014;Jette et al, 2014;Leppo et al, 2014;Mitchell & McClean, 2014;Scamell & Stewart, 2014;Stengel, 2014;Wiggington & Lafrance, 2014). This indicates a shared assumption that there is a strong theoretical association between these related perspectives, which might be reasonable given that each reflects macro-theoretical examinations of the individual within society or culture.…”

Section: Epistemological Orientation Of Risk Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…The first paper in the special edition (Hallgrimsdottir & Benner, 2014) certainly challenges our historical understanding of reflexivity and self-governance, and the origins of these concepts. The paper explores the 'moral responsibilities' of pregnant women through published 'maternal hygiene manuals' at the turn of the twentieth century (p. 7), and critiques the notion that self-governance as a response to risk is a late-modern phenomenon.…”

Section: Theorising Risk In Pregnancy and Birthmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In several of the special issue papers, there is evidence that women are concerned, or exhorted to feel concerned about, their long-term future identities as 'good' or 'moral' women, mothers and parents. Hallgrimsdottir and Benner (2014) draw attention to virtual risk objects identified in early twentieth century manuals of motherhood, at a time when maternal and infant mortality was a significant risk of birth. For the woman, moral well-being both during pregnancy and for the remainder of her life course was at stake if she did not keep healthy, participate in medical examinations and screening, observe her body for signs of illness and select an appropriate father for the child; the future child's physical health and lifelong moral character was also considered to be at stake.…”

Section: Future Moral Identity As a Virtual Risk Objectmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Risk in pregnancy and birth: are we talking to ourselves?

Coxon

2014

Health, Risk & Society

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In this editorial, I explore the contribution of the recent special issue of Health, Risk & Society (Volume 16, Issue 1), and three related papers published in the current volume (Volume 16, Issue 6), and identify themes and concepts which are consistent across these papers. The aims of the special issue were twofold; the call for papers invited articles on the topic of risk in relation to pregnancy and childbirth, and which sought to explore risk theorisation in this field. Looking at these papers as a body of work, I explore the breadth of this collective endeavour, and identify areas which have been researched at some depth, whilst drawing attention to other areas which manage to evade our theoretical gaze. I also reflect on the ways in which these papers have, independently and together, added to the field of risk theorisation, and propose some future directions which might usefully help move beyond the current limits of our enquiry. The combined body of work in these issues represents a considerable resource, and one which makes a clear contribution to contemporary understandings of risk, pregnancy and birth, however I argue that of late, the focus of enquiry has become narrowed, with much of our research providing new evidence from the perspective of relatively privileged women from high-income countries, who have good access to safe, high quality maternity care. The sum of this work is now such that it is possible to synthesise themes across studies and settings, which is valuable to our understanding, but the lack of research amongst women from developing nations, or amongst those with less privilege in high-income countries, means that our resource is incomplete, and fails to do justice to women's broader experience of pregnancy and birth. Developments of risk theorisation are evident in the collected papers; authors have interrogated the positioning of individuals as subjects, and drawn new conclusions about historicised risk, and practices of resistance to risk discourse. I review these developments in this editorial, and also propose that the collection generates many new dimensions to our initial understanding of the 'virtual object' of risk in the context of pregnancy and birth. I conclude by outlining potential new directions and approaches to meet some of the identified gaps in our exploration and theorisation of risk in pregnancy and birth.

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Section: Epistemological Orientation Of Risk Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Theorising Risk In Pregnancy and Birthmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Future Moral Identity As a Virtual Risk Objectmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Risk in pregnancy and birth: are we talking to ourselves?

Coxon

2014

Health, Risk & Society

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“…11 This approach also disproportionately puts the focus on mortality risks, causes fear, and shifts the responsibility for outcomes to women. 4,32 However, it does not mean that TM risks should be ignored. Childbearing women need a high value care system that not only provides timely intervention using and allocating resources optimally, but also helps them stay safe and healthy by preventing unnecessary medical interventions.…”

Section: The Limitations Of a Routine Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal characteristics as indications for routine induction of labor: A nationwide retrospective cohort study

Goodarzi

Seijmonsbergen-Schermers

Rijn

et al. 2022

Birth

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Background Maternal characteristics, such as parity and age, are increasingly considered indications for routine induction of labor of otherwise healthy women to prevent fetal and neonatal mortality. To fully balance the risks and benefits of induction of labor, we examined the association of additional relevant maternal characteristics and gestational age with fetal and neonatal mortality. Methods We conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study among a healthy Dutch population consisting of all singleton pregnancies in midwife‐led care after 37 weeks of gestation in the period 2000‐2018. We examined the association of maternal ethnicity, age, parity, and socioeconomic status with fetal and neonatal mortality, stratified by gestational age. The association of single characteristics was examined using descriptive statistics, and univariable and multivariable logistics regression analyses. The associations of multiple characteristics were examined using inter‐categorical analyses and using interaction terms in the multivariable logistic regression analyses. Results The results showed that ethnicity, age, parity, socioeconomic status, and gestational age did not act as single determinant of fetal and neonatal mortality. The probability of fetal and neonatal mortality differed among subgroups of women depending on which determinants were considered and the number of determinants included. Conclusions Decision‐making about induction of labor to prevent fetal and neonatal mortality based on a single determinant may lead to overuse or underuse of IOL. A value‐based health care strategy, addressing social inequity, and investing in better screening and diagnostic methods that employ an individualized and multi‐determinant approach may be more effective at preventing fetal and neonatal mortality.

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“…This includes recent research that demonstrates how the medicalisation of risk places particular pressures on women to be cognisant of, and act towards, minimising the risks to their children before and during birth (for example, Hallgrimsdottir andBenner 2014, KatzRothman 2014). Our article builds on this work and other work on parents' assessment and management of risk (for example, Backett-Milburn et al 2006) but focusses on a group as yet missing from the literature, to examine what risk consciousness looks like for mothers whose pre-teen children are facing a life-threatening illness, the risks of which are assumed to be able to be mitigated by changing parent and child practices.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Australian mothers’ notions of risk and uncertainty in relation to their pre-teen children

Wright

Halse

Levy

et al. 2014

Health, Risk & Society

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In this article we examine the ways discourses of risk manifested and played out within and across two groups of Australian mothers living in two large urban centres in Australia: the first comprised of mothers who had a pre-teen child diagnosed with an eating disorder (n = 13); the second of mothers who had a pre-teen child without the symptoms or diagnosis of an eating disorder (n = 13). In 2011 and 2012, we conducted in-depth interviews with the mothers in their homes on their ideas about health and their relationships with their children. An analysis of the data collected from these interviews indicated that having a pre-teen child diagnosed with an eating disorder had a decisive impact on how the mothers constituted and responded to risk. For mothers, who had a pre-teen child with an eating disorder, risk was intensified by bio-medical discourses. The particular intensifications of risk limited the ways in which mothers could act and often threatened to undermine their abilities as competent carers. By contrast, the mothers who did not have a pre-teen child with an eating disorder spoke about risk less directly, and with less sense of immediacy. Where these mothers acknowledged risk discourses particularly in regard to health, they were in a stronger position to negotiate them. Our analysis indicates that the ways in which mothers responded to risk is contingent on circumstances and contexts. Mothers' responses to risk were related to the calculability of the risk and their perceived capacity to manage it.

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‘Knowledge is power’: risk and the moral responsibilities of the expectant mother at the turn of the twentieth century

Cited by 36 publications

References 53 publications

Risk in pregnancy and birth: are we talking to ourselves?

Risk in pregnancy and birth: are we talking to ourselves?

Maternal characteristics as indications for routine induction of labor: A nationwide retrospective cohort study

Australian mothers’ notions of risk and uncertainty in relation to their pre-teen children

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