Curran Laura, McCoyd Judith, Munch Shari, Wilkenfeld Bonnie
a School of Social Work, Rutgers , The State University of New Jersey , New Brunswick , New Jersey , USA.
b Matheny Hospital , Peapack , New Jersey , USA.
Health Care Women Int. 2017 Aug;38(8):813-832. doi: 10.1080/07399332.2017.1323904. Epub 2017 Apr 27.
In this study, we examine the phenomenology of maternal identity development among U.S. women hospitalized with medically high-risk pregnancies (MHRP). We conducted 16 in-depth interviews with women and found that they drew on culturally normative notions of maternal nurture, worry, and sacrifice to construct maternal identity in the context of MHRP. Based on our findings, we suggest that MHRP shape women's sense of connection to and distinctive cognitive representations of their fetus. We conclude that hospitalization simultaneously promotes and challenges women's early maternal identifications.
