Intensive‐invisible mothering: The experiences of mothers of adult children with dual diagnosis

The experiences of mothers of adult offspring with a dual diagnosis have rarely been discussed in the literature, despite growing involvement and responsibility of mothers for daily care of their children. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of in‐depth interviews was used to examine the mothering experience of 12 mothers of adult offspring with dual diagnosis. The analysis revealed that the mothers’ experiences were intensive, abusive, and isolating, and simultaneously rendered them invisible, undervalued, or ignored by professionals, community, and family. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that this experience of ‘intensive‐invisible’ mothering was promoted or prevented by three intersecting mechanisms, identified here as discursive, institutional, and spatial. The research contributes to the fields of knowledge regarding family members of people with mental health problems, by adding a theoretical layer that takes into account how public discourses of motherhood mould women’s accounts of their mothering experience. Practical implications of these findings for professionals working with these mothers are discussed. Specifically, therapeutic intervention that focuses on identifying and modifying the underlying psychological and social processes associated with the ‘intensive‐invisible’ mothering experience could be useful.     

Women's experiences of becoming a mother after prolonged labour

Title.  Women's experiences of becoming a mother after prolonged labour.
Aim.  This paper is a report of a study to explore women's experiences of becoming a mother after prolonged labour.
Background.  The negativity associated with a complicated labour such as prolonged labour can lead to a struggle to become a healthy mother and could restrict the process of becoming a mother.
Methods.  Interviews were conducted in 2004 with 10 mothers who had been through a prolonged labour with assisted vaginal or caesarean delivery 1–3 months previously. Thematic content analysis was used.
Findings.  Three themes were formulated, describing women's experiences as fumbling in the dark , struggling for motherhood and achieving confidence in being a mother. The difficulties and suffering involved in becoming a mother after a prolonged labour were interpreted to be like 'fumbling in the dark'. Women experienced bodily fatigue, accompanied by feelings of illness and detachment from the child. Having the child when in this condition entailed a struggle to become a mother. In spite of these experiences and the desire to achieve confidence in being a mother, the reassurance of these women regarding their capacity for motherhood was crucial: it was central to their happiness as mothers, encouraged interaction and relationship with the child, and contributed to their adaptation to motherhood.
Conclusion.  Women experiencing prolonged labour may be comparable with the experience of and recovery from illness, which could contribute to difficulties transitioning to motherhood and limit a woman's ability to be emotionally available for the child.     

"What will happen if I tell you?" Battered Latina women's experiences of health care.

Identifying and appropriately responding to victims of intimate partner abuse is a standard of health care.The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to improve health-care providers' understanding of the health-care experiences of battered Latina women. Seventeen women were interviewed in either Spanish or English. Data were analyzed using van Manen's approach.The themes of fear, worry, and uncertainty were found to permeate the women's lives.The women's fear of their abusers and the abuse was matched by their fear of detection and disclosure of the abuse to health-care providers. Their fears were based on the consequences of the abuse becoming known. Despite their fears, the women wanted to be asked about intimate partner abuse and to receive help. Several parallels in the women's relationships with the abusers and with their health-care providers were identified. Requisites for safe disclosure of intimate partner abuse to health-care providers are discussed.     

Struggling to mother: a consequence of inhibitive nursing interactions in the neonatal nursery

This paper reports on one aspect of a grounded theory study of women's experiences of mothering in the nursery. Over 60 hours of interview data with 28 Australian women were analyzed. The analysis revealed that mothering in the nursery was a three-way interaction. "Struggling to mother" was the label given to the major category that represented how women responded to unsatisfactory nursing encounters. The findings illuminate how inhibitive nursing interactions relegate women to the periphery of care and engender an array of negative emotional responses that leave women feeling inconsequential to the welfare of their infant. Ultimately this has implications for how women take up their role as mothers in the nursery and for their sense of confidence, competence, and connection with their infant.     

"So that our souls don't get damaged": the impact of racism on maternal thinking and practice related to the protection of daughters

Racism influences the conceptualization of motherhood and the practice of mothering. Narrative analysis was completed on 246 stories collected through five focus groups. Twenty-five African American women participated in the study. The results indicate that living in a racist society profoundly impacts the maternal thinking and practice of African American women in relation to protecting their daughters. Protection of children was viewed as a communal responsibility. Issues related to the provision of safe and nurturing physical, aesthetic, and spiritual environments are addressed. The influence that maternal responsibilities have on women's own health is also discussed. Suggestions are provided for mental health providers who wish to work more effectively with African American women.     

Self-care and mothering in African American women with HIV/AIDS

African American women are the most rapidly growing group of people in the United States diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this study was to explore experiences of self-care and mothering among African American women with HIV/AIDS. It is important to recognize how culture affects illness management, childrearing, and daily living to design culturally appropriate nursing interventions for African American women. Critical ethnography was used to study 10 African American mothers from the rural Southeast who were HIV positive and mothered children who were HIV positive. Domains derived from the research were disabling relationships, strong mothering, and redefining self-care. The cultural theme was creating a life of meaning. African American mothers with HIV/AIDS in the rural Southeast used culturally specific self-care and mothering strategies reflective of cultural traditions. This study acknowledges strengths of African American women and generates theory that will enhance nursing care to this population.     

Uncertainty during perimenopause: perceptions of older first-time mothers

morgan p., merrell j., rentschler d. & chadderton h. (2012) Uncertainty during perimenopause: perceptions of older first-time mothers. Journal of Advanced Nursing68(10), 2299-2308. ABSTRACT: Aim. This article is a report of a study exploring older first-time mothers' perceptions of health during their transition to menopause. Background. Increasing numbers of women world-wide are delaying motherhood, yet little is known about the unique phenomenon created when midlife motherhood is closely followed by the transition to menopause. A literature search revealed that the effect of these overlapping life transitions on women's health was unknown. Design. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach utilizing Gadamer's philosophical underpinnings guided the study. Method. A purposive sample of thirteen women aged 45-56?years who were mothering children aged 12?years or younger and experiencing symptoms of perimenopause was recruited. Two in-depth interviews were conducted with each woman and meaning was mutually negotiated through participative dialogue with the women, ongoing construction and thematic analysis of data collected between 2004 and 2007. Findings. The key theme 'Perimenopause as a State of Uncertainty' is an interpretation of older first-time mothers' perceptions of health during perimenopause and is the focus of this article. Hermeneutic interpretation culminated in the construct 'uncertainty' as theoretical embodiment of the women's lived experience. An uncertain temporality, projection of the lifespan and valuing health as precious enabled these women to transform uncertainty into opportunities for health promotion to 'be there' for their children. Conclusion. Nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives will increasingly be caring for midlife mothers and need to understand the unique issues of older mothers to offer education and health promotion that support healthy transitions to menopause.     

Transforming possibilities of care: Goan migrant motherhood in New Zealand

Little is known about the maternity experiences of migrant mothers in Aotearoa/New Zealand--and in particular the ways in which women adapt and survive when separated from traditional postnatal practices and family support. This paper reports on a study of the maternity care experiences of women from Goa (India) in Auckland, New Zealand. Multiple research strategies were incorporated into the process to prevent reproduction of deficiency discourses. Interviews were carried out with Goan women who had experiences of migration and motherhood. The findings revealed that as a consequence of motherhood and migration, migrant mothers were able to reclaim and re-invent innovative solutions. Nurses and other health professionals can have a significant role in supporting women and their families undergoing the transition to parenthood in a new country and develop their knowledge and understanding of this dual transition.     

Keeping close: mothering with serious mental illness

AIM: The aim of this paper is to describe the experiences of mothers with serious mental illness from their perspectives and how they attempted to manage their mothering circumstances. BACKGROUND: The desire to mother in women with serious mental illness is increasingly acknowledged by healthcare professionals. For these women, mothering is often framed as a pathological problem needing professional intervention. Yet little is known about mothering and illness from the perspectives of the mothers themselves. METHOD: Using Glaser's grounded theory approach and both purposive and theoretical sampling, interviews were conducted with 20 mothers who were receiving treatment for mental health problems. The data were collected in 2002. FINDINGS: We found the core category of Keeping close described mothers' efforts to have meaningful relationships with their children in the context of illness and suffering. To this end, mothers chose strategies that would hide illness for the sake of protecting their roles and their children. These strategies--masking, censoring speech, doing motherwork and seeking help--served to imitate ideal perceptions of mothering while making illness invisible to their children. Mothering in illness, however, became a vortex of contradictions, resulting in mothers 'hitting bottom', a point in time when they realized they could not keep close via pretences. To return to the valued place of mother, they sought treatment, hoping to learn how to be with their children authentically. CONCLUSION: To assist mothers with serious mental illness, healthcare professionals must be sensitive to the social and cultural context in which they mother in order to create healthier possibilities for nurturing their children.     

Battered Japanese women's perceptions and experiences of beneficial health care

Aim:  The purpose of this study was to explore battered Japanese women's perceptions and experiences of receiving health-care assistance that they found helpful in dealing with their partner's violence.
Methods:  This study employed an interpretative qualitative design. Fifteen battered Japanese women who lived in central, western, and southern Japan were sampled. The data were collected through face-to-face individual interviews using a semistructured interview guide. The analysis was completed using the thematic analysis method.
Results:  Three themes were identified that battered Japanese women found helpful in regard to health-care providers' assistance: empathy and understanding, professional intervention, and a flexible system and assistance.
Conclusion:  For health-care providers to effectively treat battered Japanese women, it is critical that the providers understand the dynamics of intimate partner violence and that they provide information to battered women about the available community resources and options.     

The lived experiences of adult female victims of child abuse

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of female victims of domestic violence who also identified themselves as victims of physical abuse as children. There have been numerous studies of identifying perpetrators of violence as having a history of experienced violence in the family of origin. However, few studies address the victims/survivors of domestic violence and the historical significance of abuse in the family of origin. It is estimated that greater than 50% of the victims of domestic violence were also victims of abuse as a child. The research design partially followed the qualitative ethnonursing methodology. This pilot project consisted of seven females between the ages of 37 and 58. These women were members of a long-standing support group for battered women. The Pitts-Williams Inventory was used to obtain data. The instrument contained six major research questions, with sub questions. Data analysis was done by identifying major themes that emerged. Eight themes were identified. The majority of the women identified their mother as the perpetrator. They described a continuous cluster of violence, which included several different forms of violence being used consistently in order to maintain control and foster isolations. This type of violence continued in throughout their childhood and adult life.     

Self-reported health status and depression of battered black women.

This study examined the influence of psychological factors and personal characteristics on depression and health outcomes of battered Black women. Much of the existing research on violence against women by intimate partners has focused on prevalence and response to abuse. However, the problem of battering among Black women as a group has been neglected, especially as it impacts health and causes health-related problems. Secondary analysis was used in this study to look at health-related problems and battering. The sample consisted of 128 battered Black women who participated in interviews, and completed the Beck Depression Index, Health Response Scale, Daily Hassles Scale, and Index of Spouse Abuse. Study outcomes indicated a positive relationship between depression and gastrointestinal upsets. Further study with a larger group of women is needed to validate findings.     

Stay–Leave Decision Making in Battered Women: Trauma, Coping and Self-Efficacy

Most often, for battered women, the decision to stay or leave is not made at a single point in time with finality, but instead unfolds over time, and represents the most fundamental and difficult decision women may face (Barnett & LaViolette, 1993). In order to increase our knowledge of the complex factors involved in stay–leave experiences for women in violent relationships, this study focused on explicating multiple variables relevant to battered women who were either in a violent relationship or who had left a violent relationship. Five relationship status groups were examined in order to better understand the potential differences in women's experiences at different points in time: women in violent relationships (1); women out of a violent relationship for up to 6 months (2); women out of a violent relationship from 6 months to 1 year (3); women out of a violent relationship 1 to 3 years (4); women out of a violent relationship 3 years or more. Two hundred women were recruited via advertisements and posters. Using cross-sectional analyses, the variables examined included trauma symptoms (Briere, 1989); coping (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985); self-efficacy for leaving a violent relationship (a measure developed for this study; Kennedy, 1996); and physical violence (Straus, 1979). Results indicated that dynamic psychological variables such as self-efficacy, trauma symptoms, and coping varied depending on whether women were in or out of the relationship and how long it had been since they had left the relationship. These findings support the importance of understanding and responding to process variables, relevant to battered women's experiences and the potential value in tailoring interventions that are relevant to each woman's needs at a given point in the decision-making process.