Thomas Gareth M, Roberts Julie, Griffiths Frances E
School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Division of Midwifery, School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Sociol Health Illn. 2017 Jul;39(6):893-907. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12554. Epub 2017 Mar 22.
The premise that ultrasound technologies provide reassurance for pregnant women is well-rehearsed. However, there has been little research about how this reassurance is articulated and understood by both expectant mothers and health care professionals. In this article, we draw on two qualitative UK studies to explore the salience of ultrasound reassurance to women's pregnancy experiences whilst highlighting issues around articulation and silence. Specifically, we capture how expectant parents express a general need for reassurance and how visualisation and the conduct of professionals have a crucial role to play in accomplishing a sense of reassurance. We also explore how professionals have ambiguities about the relationship between ultrasound and reassurance, and how they subsequently articulate reassurance to expectant mothers. By bringing two studies together, we take a broad perspectival view of how gaps and silences within the discourse of ultrasound reassurance leave the claims made for ultrasound as a technology of reassurance unchallenged. Finally, we explore the implications this can have for women's experiences of pregnancy and health care professionals' practices.
超声技术能为孕妇提供安心感这一前提已被反复提及。然而，对于这种安心感是如何被准妈妈和医护人员阐述及理解的，却鲜有研究。在本文中，我们借鉴英国的两项定性研究，来探讨超声检查带来的安心感对女性孕期体验的重要性，同时突出围绕阐述与沉默的问题。具体而言，我们捕捉准父母如何表达对安心感的普遍需求，以及可视化和专业人员的行为在营造安心感方面如何发挥关键作用。我们还探讨了专业人员对于超声与安心感之间的关系如何存在模糊认识，以及他们随后如何向准妈妈阐述安心感。通过将两项研究结合起来，我们从广泛的视角审视超声安心感话语中的差距和沉默如何使超声作为一种安心技术的说法未受到质疑。最后，我们探讨这可能对女性的孕期体验和医护人员的实践产生的影响。
