This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1049732308329310v1 19/2/194    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Kurtz Landy, C. Articles by Valaitis, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kurtz Landy, C. Articles by Valaitis, R. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Postpartum Care Women's Health Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Experiences of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Postpartum Women in the First 4 Weeks at Home

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, kurtzlcm{at}mcmaster.ca

Wendy Sword

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Ruta Valaitis

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

We used a qualitative descriptive approach to explore and describe the situated experiences of socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) postpartum women in the first 4 weeks after hospital discharge. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data from in-depth interviews with 24 SED postpartum women. Two intertwining, overarching themes emerged: (a) the ongoing burden of their day-to-day lives, with subthemes of poverty and material deprivation, stigmatization through living publicly examined lives, and precarious social support; and (b) the ongoing struggles to adjust to changes that came with the baby's arrival, with subthemes of "the first weeks were hard," "feeling out of control," "absence of help at home," "complex relationship with the baby's father," and "health and well-being." Knowledge of SED women's situated experiences is vital to the development of health policies and services that will truly meet their needs.

Key Words: postpartum care • poverty • social inequity • social support • women's health

This version was published on February 1, 2009

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 19, No. 2, 194-206 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732308329310


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. De Marco, S. Thorburn, and J. Kue "In a Country as Affluent as America, People Should be Eating": Experiences With and Perceptions of Food Insecurity Among Rural and Urban Oregonians Qual Health Res, July 1, 2009; 19(7): 1010 - 1024. [Abstract] [PDF]