The ambiguity of disabled women's experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood: A phenomenological understanding

Walsh-Gallagher, Dympna; Sinclair, Marlene; Conkey, Roy Mc

doi:10.1016/j.midw.2011.01.003

Cited by 119 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This is consistent with previous research which has also identified similar unhelpful forms of support from professionals at various stages of parenthood (Tucker and Johnson, 1989;Kroese et al, 2002;Walsh-Gallagher et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

The postnatal support needs of mothers with an intellectual disability

et al. 2013

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Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University's research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html This document may differ from the final, published version of the research and has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies. To read and/or cite from the published version of the research, please visit the publisher's website (a subscription may be required.) NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Midwifery. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive versio n was subsequently published as: Design: A qualitative design was used and data were collected using a semi-structured interview format and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Setting:The study took place in community settings in Scotland.Participants: Six mothers with intellectual disabilities were interviewed about their experiences. Measurements and findings:Two super-ordinate themes are discussed with accompanying subthemes: challenges of providing support and how support was delivered. Key conclusions:The mothers valued formal postnatal care, but this was secondary to informal support. How mothers perceived the support impacted on its effectiveness and building effective relationships with professionals presented challenges. Implications for practice:The study suggests the structure and quality of the wider support networks of mothers with an intellectual disability are central and should be taken account of by professionals. Providing information and advice in ways that validates the mother's role is also important, particularly as the mother's perception of how help is given can impact on the degree to which mothers engage with professionals.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

The postnatal support needs of mothers with an intellectual disability

et al. 2013

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“…Becoming a mother can affirm disabled women's status of womanhood (McKeever et al, 2003;Walsh Gallagher et al, 2012). Health service providers have the potential to either perpetuate or remove the barriers that disabled pregnant or birthing women may encounter: they can be part of the problem or part of the solution.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore the relationship between the mother and her maternity service provider and other health providers needs to be carefully negotiated and discussed, with the providers recognising that disabled women want to receive care that is centred on their needs and allows them to have control, supported by the expertise of the 'practitioner partner/s' (Clarke, 2009;Curtis, 1997;Kaiser A, Reid D, Boschen, 2012, Mitton, Treharne, Hale, Williams & Kitas, 2007Thomas &). This can contribute to mothers having better quality of care and a positive birth experience (Kayes, McPherson, 2012;McPherson, Headrick & Moss, 2001;Smeltzer, 2007;Walsh Gallagher, Sinclair, Conkey, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Becoming a mother is highly valued in Western societies; it gives a woman status (McKeever, Angus, Lee-Miller & Reid., 2003;Walsh Gallagher, Sinclair, Conkey, (2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The assumption that for a woman to have a 'perfect baby' requires a lack of maternal 'imperfection' appears to put subtle and not so subtle pressure on disabled women to terminate their pregnancies. Disabled women offered prenatal testing and abortions by health practitioners have reported they are not asked about their view on being pregnant, and if they decided against having such interventions, some have been treated with disapproval (Carty, 1998;Prilliltensky, 2003;Walsh Gallagher, Sinclair & Conkey, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

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

Payne¹,

B²,

Roy³

et al. 2014

Int J Childbirth

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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

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