Taking It Into Account: Caring for Disabled Mothers During Pregnancy and Birth

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough more disabled women are pursuing motherhood over time, little is known about their needs and experiences in achieving this goal. MethodsA three-phase study was designed with the aim of identifying ways for services to be more responsive for women living with physical or sensory impairment during and after pregnancy. This paper draws on the qualitative phases of a three-part mixed method study, which involved individual and focus group interviews with the women and maternity and child health practitioners ResultsSixty-two mothers with either a physical or a sensory impairment, and 28 health practitioners participated in the study. Three themes were identified in relation to the current approaches to service provision: that the women were often responsible for educating the practitioners about their impairment; they often encountered disabling environments and; it was not uncommon for them to also encounter disabling attitudes from others. Strategies suggested by our participants to improve the provision of maternity services were for women's impairments to be taken into account in the structure and process of service provision, and for practitioners to problem solve and think ahead of how to meet the needs of disabled mothers. ConclusionThe need to take the woman's impairment into account was an overarching issue and strategy identified by both women and practitioners. This consideration has relevance not just at the practitioner/women interaction level but also for educational, structural service provision and policy levels.2

Labor, delivery, and anesthesia experiences of women with physical disability

“…The experiences reported by participants support previous findings about problematic care during pregnancy and reflect women's perceptions about labor, delivery, and anesthesia care. Most participants had specific preferences for type of delivery and anesthesia.…”

“What Services?”: Stakeholders’ Perceived Unmet Support Needs for Parents With Neurological Disorders

“…As most multi-participant studies to date have been limited to mothers with a disability ( Payne et al, 2014 ; Prilleltensky, 2003 ), approaching the topic from a multi-stakeholder perspective, including occupational therapists, may offer a heightened understanding ( Ivanoff & Hultberg, 2006 ) of the unmet support needs of parents with neurological disorders. Hence, the overall aim of this qualitative study was to explore parenting with neurological disorders in early childhood in a Canadian context.…”