Allport Tom, Briggs Hannah, Osman Fatumo
Centre for Academic Child Health, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Community Children's Health Partnership, Sirona Care & Health, Bristol, UK.
Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2025 Dec;20(1):2439467. doi: 10.1080/17482631.2024.2439467. Epub 2024 Dec 17.
Stresses in pregnancy and early motherhood can affect women's health and wellbeing, and babies' development. Migrant women face compounding stressors from the intersection of gender, race, social class, migration, and language. We explored one Somali woman's experience of pregnancy and the transition to motherhood, following migration to an urban environment in the Global North, aiming to understand resilience in this specific socio-cultural context.
This case study used interpretative phenomenological analysis of a single two-hour semi-structured interview with a Somali woman in the UK to explore how this experience may have relevance for communities and practitioners in the Global North.
We identified two overarching themes in this woman's experience: "vicious" and "virtuous" circles, attempting to make sense of her experience of isolation and lack of wellbeing, and subsequent confidence, engagement, and community-building.
An experience of "alignment" in social relationships appeared to make possible the shift from "vicious" to "virtuous" circle, which enabled escape from social isolation. This account of transformation-from social isolation to community contribution-underlines the role of community organizations facilitating positive social networks and peer support during pregnancy and early motherhood.
孕期及初为人母时的压力会影响女性的健康和幸福，以及婴儿的发育。移民女性面临着性别、种族、社会阶层、移民身份和语言等多重压力源的交织。我们探究了一名索马里女性在移民到全球北方的城市环境后，孕期及过渡到母亲角色的经历，旨在了解在这一特定社会文化背景下的复原力。
本案例研究对一名在英国的索马里女性进行了一次两小时的半结构化访谈，并采用解释现象学分析方法，以探究这一经历对全球北方的社区和从业者可能具有的意义。
我们在这名女性的经历中识别出两个总体主题：“恶性循环”和“良性循环”，试图理解她的孤独感和幸福感缺失的经历，以及随后的自信、参与和社区建设。
社会关系中的“契合”体验似乎使从“恶性循环”向“良性循环”的转变成为可能，从而使她摆脱了社会孤立。这种从社会孤立到社区贡献的转变描述强调了社区组织在孕期及初为人母期间促进积极社交网络和同伴支持的作用。
