Abstract
Background: Adult children of alcoholic parents are at increased risk of having health problems, compared to those of non-alcoholic parents. Yet, little is known about how growing op with alcoholic parents affects these women’s experiences when pregnant.
Aim: To explore how adverse childhood experiences related to parental alcohol abuse affected women during their pregnancy and assess the implications of women’s experiences for antenatal care provision.
Methods: Twelve in-depth interviews were performed with women, who had been brought up by an alcoholic mother and/or father. Systematic text condensation was used to analyse data.
Results: Two main categories were identified. First, ‘Establishing relationships’, which described how women’s upbringing affected relationships with their parents, friends, and partner. Secondly, ‘Responding to the pregnancy and attending antenatal care’, which illuminated how neither care providers nor women talked about women’s childhood experiences at the antenatal visits, and illustrated women’s concerns about the baby’s health, lack of predictability and control during the pregnancy period, as well as motherhood abilities following birth.
Conclusions: Strained relationships with their parents and a limited number of friends meant that women primarily relied on their partner for practical and emotional support during the pregnancy. Women’s childhood experiences had great influence on how they responded to being pregnant. However, conditions related to their upbringing were not addressed at the antenatal visits.
Implications for practice include systematic screening for adverse childhood experiences upon entry in antenatal care. Furthermore, post-graduate training of antenatal care providers in how to establish trust and communicate with these women may be needed. Antenatal preparation classes can serve as important sources of informational as well as social support. Finally, as women’s emotional vulnerabilities are likely to continue after birth, parenting courses may help these women in establishing healthy parenting models, despite their traumatic childhood experiences.
Aim: To explore how adverse childhood experiences related to parental alcohol abuse affected women during their pregnancy and assess the implications of women’s experiences for antenatal care provision.
Methods: Twelve in-depth interviews were performed with women, who had been brought up by an alcoholic mother and/or father. Systematic text condensation was used to analyse data.
Results: Two main categories were identified. First, ‘Establishing relationships’, which described how women’s upbringing affected relationships with their parents, friends, and partner. Secondly, ‘Responding to the pregnancy and attending antenatal care’, which illuminated how neither care providers nor women talked about women’s childhood experiences at the antenatal visits, and illustrated women’s concerns about the baby’s health, lack of predictability and control during the pregnancy period, as well as motherhood abilities following birth.
Conclusions: Strained relationships with their parents and a limited number of friends meant that women primarily relied on their partner for practical and emotional support during the pregnancy. Women’s childhood experiences had great influence on how they responded to being pregnant. However, conditions related to their upbringing were not addressed at the antenatal visits.
Implications for practice include systematic screening for adverse childhood experiences upon entry in antenatal care. Furthermore, post-graduate training of antenatal care providers in how to establish trust and communicate with these women may be needed. Antenatal preparation classes can serve as important sources of informational as well as social support. Finally, as women’s emotional vulnerabilities are likely to continue after birth, parenting courses may help these women in establishing healthy parenting models, despite their traumatic childhood experiences.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
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Publikationsdato | 5 maj 2022 |
Status | Udgivet - 5 maj 2022 |
Begivenhed | NJF Congress 2022 Midwives promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights - Helsinki, Finland Varighed: 5 maj 2022 → 5 maj 2022 Konferencens nummer: 22 https://njfcongress.fi/ |
Konference
Konference | NJF Congress 2022 Midwives promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights |
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Nummer | 22 |
Land/Område | Finland |
By | Helsinki |
Periode | 05/05/22 → 05/05/22 |
Internetadresse |