Homer-Perry Rebecca, Czuber-Dochan Wladyslawa, Wade Tiffany, Purewal Satvinder, Chapman Sarah Ce, Brookes Matthew, Selinger Christian P, Steed Helen
University of Wolverhampton, Faculty of Education, Health, and Wellbeing, Psychology Department, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1LY, United Kingdom.
Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, King's College London, United Kingdom.
Heliyon. 2024 May 25;10(11):e31954. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31954. eCollection 2024 Jun 15.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) affects many women of childbearing age. High levels of voluntary childlessness and high levels of pregnancy-related fears have been reported amongst these patients in several quantitative studies. We investigated the lived experiences of pregnant patients to better understand decision-making processes around family planning.
Nine participants between 7 and 34 weeks pregnant (6 Crohn's Disease/3 Ulcerative Colitis), with an age range of 22-39 were recruited prospectively from three United Kingdom hospitals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and audio recorded. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to interpret the data.
Two main themes emerged: 1) IBD is perceived as a threat to family planning; and 2) healthcare professional advice, support, and reassurance was important. IBD was viewed as a potential threat to fertility and reproductive health. Consequently, women's lived experience of pregnancy is shaped by anxiety and pregnancy-related worries for mother and baby. Mothers actively sought out expert medical assurances to alleviate some of the perceived fears.
Previous research has repeatedly found that women with IBD exhibit high levels of pregnancy-related worries and anxieties. Our findings find that high levels of anxiety are due to patients' perceptions that IBD is a threat to their reproductive health and their offspring. Women relied on a medicalized discourse to understand their IBD experiences during pregnancy and actively sought biomedical resources for assistance before and during pregnancy. Consultants should be aware that when dealing with pregnant patients, some women may experience anxiety and require extra support.
炎症性肠病（IBD）影响着许多育龄女性。多项定量研究报告称，这些患者中自愿不育率高且与怀孕相关的恐惧程度高。我们调查了怀孕患者的生活经历，以更好地了解计划生育相关的决策过程。
前瞻性地从英国三家医院招募了9名怀孕7至34周的参与者（6名克罗恩病/3名溃疡性结肠炎），年龄在22至39岁之间。进行了半结构化访谈并录音。采用解释现象学分析来解释数据。
出现了两个主要主题：1）IBD被视为对计划生育的威胁；2）医疗专业人员的建议、支持和安慰很重要。IBD被视为对生育能力和生殖健康的潜在威胁。因此，女性怀孕的生活经历受到对母亲和婴儿的焦虑及与怀孕相关担忧的影响。母亲们积极寻求专业医疗保证以减轻一些感知到的恐惧。
先前的研究反复发现，患有IBD的女性表现出与怀孕相关的高度担忧和焦虑。我们的研究结果表明，高度焦虑是由于患者认为IBD对其生殖健康及其后代构成威胁。女性依靠医学化的话语来理解她们在怀孕期间的IBD经历，并在怀孕前和怀孕期间积极寻求生物医学资源的帮助。咨询人员应意识到，在处理怀孕患者时，一些女性可能会感到焦虑，需要额外的支持。
