Abstract
ABSTRACTObjectives: To explore the discursive construction and social actions achieved by accounts given by men following a birth in which the mother developed life-threatening complications.Background: Existing qualitative research employing interpretative thematic analysis of men’s accounts of births in which the mother developed life-threatening complications highlights men’s expressions of distress and marginalisation. This paper extends this, adopting different epistemological and analytic approaches to those accounts.Methods: Audio recordings and transcripts of semi-structured interviews collected by Hinton et al. were re-analysed using an approach informed by narrative analysis, discursive psychology and the discursive action model. Participants were four white British men whose partners experienced a maternal ‘near-miss’ event.Results: This analysis illustrates how men in this study draw on cultural narratives of ‘normal’ birth to construct experiences. Narrative constructions highlight separation of health professionals from laymen. These men use a discourse of self-reliance within families to construct their path to recovery.Conclusion: The strength of available narratives of birth and limited accessibility of alternative ones may impact how men tell their experience. Men in this study discursively attend to issues of power, agency and male identity, re-establishing entitlement to speak about their experience, but construct emotional support as unavailable to them.
Highlights
Introduction and literature reviewThis introductory section will outline the rationale for the current study with reference to the understandings existing research has generated in the area
Medical processes and practices were constructed by men as categorically different to the more human constructions of themselves and their “lifeworld”. These separations interacted with issues of power, agency and the construction of identities as men, husbands and fathers within the context of birth becoming a medical emergency
Estimates of the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) amongst women after birth vary between about 1.5% (Ayers & Pickering, 2001) and 6% (Menage, 1993), and this may be mediated by the historical context of the women as well as events at the birth itself. 1.7% of women in Wijma, Söderquist, and Wijma's (1997) sample of all (1640) women giving birth in one year in Linkoping, Sweden met the criteria for PTSD
Summary
Introduction and literature reviewThis introductory section will outline the rationale for the current study with reference to the understandings existing research has generated in the area. I shall consider the current understanding of men’s potential emotional distress following the birth of their child, before discussing the significance of those births in particular which are considered “near miss” events in which there was serious risk to the life of the mother. Existing qualitative research conducted by Hinton, Locock and Knight (2014) focuses on the content of men’s accounts of their experience following a birth in which the mother experienced a medical “near-miss”. They highlight feelings of exclusion and powerlessness, difficulty in dealing with the new baby and issues around support, communication and recovery in men’s accounts. Using a sub-sample of the same data, this study aims to consider how fathers who report lasting distress following these births construct their accounts, considering the discursive resources influencing their construction and the actions their accounts perform, with the aim of using that understanding to assist in the reduction and management of distress
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