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Women and partners' experiences of critical perinatal events: a qualitative study.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to explore women and partners' experiences following critical perinatal events. DESIGN:This is a qualitative interview study. We conducted semistructured individual interviews with women and their partners in separate rooms. Interviews were analysed thematically and validated by a transdisciplinary group of anthropologists, obstetricians and a midwife. SETTING:Department of obstetrics at a tertiary referral university hospital in Denmark. PARTICIPANTS:Women and partners who had experienced a critical perinatal event within the past 3-12 months. RESULTS:We conducted 17 interviews and identified three main themes: (1) ambivalence towards medicalisation, (2) the extended temporality of a critical birth and (3) postnatal loss of attention from healthcare professionals. Overall, participants expressed a high degree of trust in and quality of provided healthcare during the critical perinatal events. They experienced medicalisation (obstetric interventions) as a necessity, linking them to the safety of the child and their new role as responsible parents. However, some women experienced disempowerment when healthcare professionals overlooked their ability to stay actively involved during birth events. Postnatally, women and their partners experienced shortages of healthcare professional resources, absent healthcare and lack of attention. CONCLUSIONS:Women and their partners' experiences of critical perinatal events begin long before and end long after the actual moment of childbirth, challenging conventional ideas about the birth as being the pivotal event in making families. In future healthcare planning, it is important to to align expectations and guide parental involvement in birth events and to acknowledge the postnatal period as equally crucial.

SUBMITTER: Navne LE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7500299 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Women and partners' experiences of critical perinatal events: a qualitative study.

Navne Laura Emdal LE Høgh Stinne S Johansen Marianne M Svendsen Mette Nordahl MN Sorensen Jette Led JL

BMJ open 20200917 9

<h4>Objective</h4>The aim of this study was to explore women and partners' experiences following critical perinatal events.<h4>Design</h4>This is a qualitative interview study. We conducted semistructured individual interviews with women and their partners in separate rooms. Interviews were analysed thematically and validated by a transdisciplinary group of anthropologists, obstetricians and a midwife.<h4>Setting</h4>Department of obstetrics at a tertiary referral university hospital in Denmark. ...[more]

PMID: 32948567

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Project description:ObjectivesPartners and wider family members play a vital role in relation to women's perinatal mental health. Clinical guidelines in the UK and internationally recommend that services supporting women with perinatal mental health difficulties involve and support their families too. However, little is known about family members' needs and experiences, or whether they feel included by mental health services. This study set out to explore this.MethodsThis research formed part of a wider study exploring experiences of perinatal mental health care in England. The broader study included semi-structured interviews with 52 women across England who received treatment for a perinatal mental health difficulty, and 32 family members identified by the women as offering them some support. Data from these 84 interviews relating to how services work with partners and families were extracted and analysed thematically.ResultsAnalysis identified three overarching themes: (1) the centrality of women's families to their perinatal mental health/access to support, (2) experiences of partners and families being excluded by services and (3) ambivalence among women and their families about increasing family involvement/support. We found that partners and families appear to have an important influence on women's perinatal mental health, access to care and interactions with services, but that services tend to focus on individual women (and babies) with little regard for their wider family context. The complexity of involving and supporting partners and families, coupled with anxiety about this among women and their families, reinforces the tendency to marginalise them.ConclusionInvolving women's families and providing the support they need is challenging, but important. Experiences of women and their families of services treating perinatal mental health difficulties suggests greater focus is needed on overcoming barriers to family inclusion and on challenging underlying gender roles and expectations, rather than allowing these to shape and guide practice.

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Women and partners' experiences of critical perinatal events: a qualitative study.

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Women and partners' experiences of critical perinatal events: a qualitative study.

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