Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2018 Oct 5;18(1):393. doi: 10.1186/s12884-018-2022-8.
Self-reliance (the need to rely on one's own efforts and abilities) is cited as a potential coping strategy for decreased or absent social support during pregnancy. Little data exists on how women view self-reliance in pregnancy.
We recruited women from urban, walk-in pregnancy testing clinics from June 2014-June 2015. Women aged 16 to 44 and at less than 24 weeks gestational age were eligible. Participants completed an enrollment survey and in-person, semi-structured interviews. We used framework analysis to identify key concepts and assess thematic relationships.
Eighty-four English-speaking women completed qualitative interviews. Participants averaged 26 years of age and 7 weeks estimated gestational age. Most identified as Black (54%) or Hispanic (20%), were unemployed or homemakers (52%), unmarried (92%), and had at least one child (67%). Most did not intend to get pregnant (61%) and planned to continue their pregnancy and parent (65%). We identified self-reliance as a prevalent concept that almost half (48%) of participants discussed in relationship to their pregnancy. Self-reliance in pregnancy consisted of several subthemes: 1) past experiences, 2) expectations of motherhood, 3) financial independence, 4) decision making, and 5) parenting.
Self-reliance is an important aspect of women's reproductive lives and is threaded through women's past and current thoughts, feelings, experiences and decisions about pregnancy. Women's belief in their own self-reliance as well as a recognition of the limits of self-reliance merits further research, especially as a potential strategy to cope with decreased or absent social support during pregnancy.
自力更生（依靠自己的努力和能力的需求）被认为是在怀孕期间减少或缺乏社会支持时的一种潜在应对策略。关于女性如何看待怀孕期间的自力更生，数据很少。
我们于 2014 年 6 月至 2015 年 6 月从城市、随到随检的妊娠检测诊所招募女性。年龄在 16 至 44 岁且妊娠不足 24 周的女性符合条件。参与者完成了一份入组调查和面对面的半结构化访谈。我们使用框架分析来确定关键概念并评估主题关系。
84 名讲英语的女性完成了定性访谈。参与者的平均年龄为 26 岁，估计妊娠周数为 7 周。大多数参与者自认为是黑人（54%）或西班牙裔（20%），无业或家庭主妇（52%），未婚（92%），且至少有一个孩子（67%）。大多数人不打算怀孕（61%），并计划继续怀孕和育儿（65%）。我们发现，自力更生是近一半（48%）参与者在谈到怀孕时提到的一个普遍概念。怀孕期间的自力更生包括几个子主题：1）过去的经历，2）对母性的期望，3）经济独立，4）决策，以及 5）育儿。
自力更生是女性生殖生活的一个重要方面，贯穿于女性过去和现在对怀孕的想法、感受、经历和决定。女性对自己自力更生的信念以及对自力更生局限性的认识值得进一步研究，尤其是作为应对怀孕期间社会支持减少或缺乏的一种潜在策略。
