Exploring psychological distress among a sample of pregnant women from a low income area who self-identify as being distressed
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Date
2018
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Psychological distress during pregnancy has been a fairly neglected phenomenon and has
only recently started emerging as an area of research interest. The existing body of
scholarship on distress during pregnancy has largely been conducted from a positivist
paradigm, emphasising the identification, incidences and risks. There is thus a dearth of
qualitative inquiry into pregnant women's experiences and accounts of distress. In an
attempt to address these gaps within the literature, my study explored psychological distress
among a group of pregnant women from socio-economically disadvantaged contexts. The
specific objectives of my study was to explore how pregnant women conceptualised
psychological distress within the context of pregnancy; the feelings or symptoms of
psychological distress; what pregnant women perceived as its causes; and the psychosocial
needs of pregnant women in relation to antenatal distress. This study was guided by a
feminist approach and a feminist standpoint epistemology in particular. This lent itself to
exploring the phenomenon while departing from a clinical, decontextualised position which
translated into an investigation with pregnant women who subjectively perceived
themselves to be distressed.
Description
Magister Artium - MA (Psychology)
Keywords
psychological distress during pregnancy, antenatal psychological distress,
perinatal distress, maternal distress, maternal mental health, self-reported distress, qualitative
methodology, feminist standpoint epistemology