Biggerstaff, Deborah (2014) Never the same as before : women's experiences after childbirth. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the phenomenology of women’s experiences and perceptions in the first 18 -24 months after childbirth. Close engagement with participants’ narratives enables women’s voices to be heard in the sometimes conflicting discourses about motherhood while identified issues in postnatal care issues are examined.

Healthcare policy identifies the need for service improvement and reconfiguration of service delivery is well documented. However, a paucity of empirical knowledge remains with little explanatory theory, from women’s perspectives, about new mothers’ experiences during this period. Becoming a mother engenders a perceptual shift, or psychological re-negotiation, with being-in-the-world. Greater understanding of these issues is therefore central to inform effective service provision.

Women’s perceptions of their care and their narratives about their individual perspectives, experiences and feelings following childbirth are explored. A case-study research approach provides rich data from in-depth interviews analysed using phenomenology (IPA). The study, conducted in parallel with an RCT, offers evidence of how participants (N = 12) discuss their engagement with the world. The phenomenological examination of mothers’ lived-world experiences, their life-world, provides a wealth of data. Responses are equivocal, highlighting the importance of being determined when seeking care at a time when mothers felt vulnerable. Participants report coping with events by drawing on their experiences and knowledge acquired caring for their families.

Mothers identify how professionals need to develop greater awareness of the importance of enhancing listening skills in order to help women effectively. Themes of vulnerability, disempowerment and doubts about their abilities emphasise participants’ need for compassion, kindness and understanding. Support during delivery and positive postnatal experiences can lead to improved physical and emotional health; lack of support can impact on physical and psychological morbidity.

The thesis highlights how postnatal care remains a Cinderella story. Greater awareness of such issues is emphasised to deliver quality postnatal care that is timely and non-threatening to avoid women feeling disempowered and belittled.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman R Medicine > RG Gynecology and obstetrics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Postnatal care -- Great Britain, Mothers
Official Date:	June 2014
Dates:	Date Event June 2014 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Medical School
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Szczepura, Ala ; Pickering, John
Extent:	447 pages : charts
Language:	eng

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