This research addressed the challenges faced by women in today's society during the transition to motherhood, and explored the possible benefits of an online natural helping network of blogging peers. Given the content of the literature describing the transition to motherhood and the many hardships that pose possible obstacles for an ideal transition, this research attempted to uncover the reasons why mothers blog and what benefit, if any, they experience as a result of blogging. This study explored the following questions: Why do women blog during the transition to motherhood? What is the relationship among the seven identified variables: blogging intensity, authentic self-disclosure, perceived general social support, perceived social support from blogging, current depression, stress, and parenting competence? This dissertation employed a cross-sectional research design using a web-based survey. The data were trimmed to limit the participants to residents/citizens of the United States and mothers of preschool aged (0-5) children who lived with them four or more days per week. The data were further limited to include only those participants (N = 501) who completed the survey in its entirety. New mothers experienced benefits as a result of their authentic participation in blogging and reported key reasons that they participated including: to share their experiences with others, to preserve their memories, to interact with a like-minded audience, and to feel understood. There were significant positive correlations between authentic self-disclosure and perceived social support, and sense of parenting competency, and a negative relationship between authentic self-disclosure and maternal depression and perceived stress. Multiple regression analysis indicated that social support was the strongest predictor of current depression. Social support was also a predictor of stress and of perceived parenting competence. Additionally, social support significantly predicted authentic self-disclosure. With a growing reliance on technology and social media, social work has an obligation to identify and utilize the beneficial aspects of this medium.

The general purpose of this research was to investigate physical activity levels as a correlate of selected aspects of psychological health among pregnant women. Specifically, the aims of the study were (1) to provide a cross-sectional description of changes in physical self-concept, mood, and perceived stress during pregnancy; (2) to evaluate physical activity patterns of pregnant women over time during pregnancy; and (3) to determine if there is a difference between physical activity and physical self-concept, mood, perceived stress and/or burnout symptoms during pregnancy. Participants were pregnant women from various antenatal clinics at King Edward Memorial Hospital. The women completed a questionnaire package containing questions on physical activity levels and measures of physical self-concept, social physique anxiety, perceived stress, mood and burnout symptoms. A series of ANOVAs was used to provide a descriptive profile of how these psychological variables change during the course of pregnancy. Significant time-related differences were found for the perceived health subscale of the PSDQ and the tension subscale for the BRUMS. Findings also suggested a significant association between physical activity, and physical self-perceptions, most importantly self-esteem. Higher levels of physical activity were also found to be closely related to positive mood states, lower levels of perceived stress and fewer burnout symptoms. No significant association was found between physical activity and social physique anxiety.

Thesis (Dr. P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2001. / Supervisor: Beth E. Quill. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-09, Section: B, page: 3993. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-146).

South Africa is a very violent society, where violence is often used as a social resource to maintain control and establish authority. Global and local research suggests that there is a high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV), a facet of this violence, although little research has been conducted into the effects of IPV during pregnancy in the South African non-governmental organisation (NGO) context. NGOs globally and in South Africa have attempted to address IPV and IPV during pregnancy by providing services that aim to assist (largely female) clients emotionally and logistically. In light of this phenomenon, this qualitative study presents data generated through the use of a lightly-structured narrative interview schedule. The interviews were conducted over three sessions with eight counsellors, all based at two NGOs in South Africa and experienced in counselling women who have suffered IPV and IPV during pregnancy. This study used Taylor and Littleton’s (2006) narrative-discursive analytical lens, infused with theoretical insights from Foucault about power, discourse and narrative in order to identify the discursive resources that shape the narratives that the counsellors shared in the interviews and how these translate into subject positions and (gendered) power relations of the men and women about whom they speak. Six discursive resources emerged from the narratives, namely a discourse of ‘traditional “African” culture’, ‘patriarchal masculinity’, ‘nurturing femininity’, ‘female victimhood’, ‘female survivorhood’ and ‘human rights’. These informed the three main narratives that emerged: narratives about IPV in general, IPV during pregnancy, and the counsellors’ narratives about their intervention strategies. Within these narratives (and the micro-narratives which comprised them), men were largely positioned as subscribing to violent patriarchal behaviour whilst women were mostly positioned as nurturing and victims of this violence. The counsellors also constructed women as largely ignorant of their options about IPV and IPV during pregnancy; they constructed these phenomena as problems that require intervention and identified a number of factors that indicate what successful IPV interventions should entail. In reflecting upon this analysis, this study also aimed to address the questions of what is achieved or gained by using these narratives and discursive resources, what the significance or consequences are of constructing and using these particular narratives and discourses and whether different narratives or discourses would have been possible. Recommendations for further research includes incorporating more sites as well as interviewing perpetrators and IPV survivors themselves, perhaps in their home language where relevant rather than English, to gain a broader and more faceted understanding of the dynamics surrounding IPV during pregnancy. A recommendation for practice in intervention against IPV during pregnancy is to introduce more holistic/systemic intervention strategies and working with communities to address this issue.

M.Cur. / The primigravida's experience of childbirth is influenced by the knowledge and expectations she has of childbirth. Her expectations of childbirth are based on the information she got from the antenatal clinic, the nursing staff, her mother, friends and family. The purpose of this research was to determine the knowledge and expectations the primigravida has of childbirth. An exploratory, descriptive design was used within the context of an academic hospital in Johannesburg. The survey method was used. The method of research firstly consisted of a literature study of the primigravida's knowledge and expectations of childbirth. This was done in order to put the problem in perspective and also to serve as a theoretical framework for the study. Secondly, a structured questionnaire was used to make a survey of the primigravida's knowledge and expectations of childbirth. The test sample comprised all white primigravidas between the ages of 15 and 39 years with a pregnancy duration of 37 weeks and more who visited the antenatal clinic of an academic hospital in Johannesburg. Over a period of 11 weeks, from 15 october to 30 December 1989, 29 primigravidas participated in this research project. The questionnaires were completed with their visit to the antenatal clinic and then returned to the clinic staff. Descriptive statistics and frequency tables were used to interpret the results of the research. From this research it is clear that the respondents had insufficient knowledge of childbirth and the handling of pain during childbirth. This insufficient knowledge can mainly be attributed to the poor attendance of antenatal . preparation classes, inadequate professional counselling and the mother of the primigravida as the primary source of information on childbirth. The respondents, however, had realistic expectations· with regard to their handling of labour, as well as of the role of the midwife and the doctor.

MPH / Department of Public Health

Background: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, women carried, birthed, and cared for infants in a drastically changed world. For perinatal women, the sudden increase in stressors compounded an already vulnerable time where they are at an elevated risk of developing symptoms of psychopathology. Moreover, the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing racial health disparities and disproportionately impacted Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)— particularly perinatal BIPOC women, due to the intersection of their race and perinatal status. This study investigated the relationships between COVID-19-related stressors and postpartum psychopathology using network analysis. Network analysis is used as an alternative technique for investigating the activation and maintenance of psychopathology and is increasingly used to examine the influence of external variables (e.g., stressors) on network dynamics. The relationship between psychological symptoms and stressors is typically examined in a unilinear manner—that is, stress causes psychopathology or vice versa. By using network analysis, we were able to investigate the bidirectional relationship between COVID-19-related stressors and postpartum psychopathology to reveal new insights into the individual stressor-symptom interactions that may underlie the emergence of psychological disorders for the perinatal population during the pandemic. Methods: Participants (N=630) were recruited via social media and listservs and completed an online Qualtrics survey. Data quality measures were used to identify repeated, incomplete, and potentially fraudulent responses, which were removed prior to data analysis. Goldbricker, inter-item correlations, and variance inflation factor analyses were used to address topological overlap and identify statistically unique items to be included in the networks. A comorbidity symptom network was estimated to investigate the relationship between postpartum depression and anxiety symptoms in all participants. Bridge symptoms between the two conditions were identified using bridge analysis and clique percolation analysis. Next, an expanded model was estimated to investigate the relationship between postpartum symptoms and COVID-19-related stressors. Node-wise predictability and moderation analyses were used to investigate the effects of adding external variables (i.e., positive experiences, maternal functioning domains, and predictors of psychopathology) to the expanded model. Finally, moderated networks were estimated to investigate differences in the structure of the comorbidity network and the expanded network for mothers from different racial and ethnic groups. Results: Fear-based symptoms were central in both the comorbidity and expanded networks and bridged postpartum anxiety and depression symptoms in the comorbidity network. The Depressed Mood and two Home Stress domains were central in the expanded network. Additional bridge symptoms in the comorbidity network included feeling overwhelmed, concentration difficulties, and feeling disliked by others, and in the expanded network included the Postpartum Stress, Emotional Stress, and Difficulty Adjusting domains. Moderation analyses revealed that the more mothers felt competent and the less challenging they perceived their infant’s temperament, the weaker the node connections were in their expanded networks. Furthermore, mothers with a history of prenatal depression, prenatal anxiety, or baby blues had denser expanded networks (i.e., stronger and more unique edges) compared to mothers with no history of these conditions. Contrary to expectations, moderation analyses revealed that: 1) social support and engaging in positive experiences during the pandemic strengthened connections between stressors and symptoms; 2) middle-income mothers had denser networks compared to low- and high-income mothers. Finally, racial network comparisons revealed that Black mothers' comorbidity and expanded networks were denser compared to all other racial groups. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the influence of major contextual changes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on network dynamics—that is, previously established peripheral network nodes (e.g., fear) may shift to the center during large-scale events. Therefore, researchers cannot assume that previously identified central nodes will remain as the main drivers of psychopathology irrespective of changes in context, as this may lead to a misdirection of prevention and intervention efforts. Further, our findings underscore that people with multiple intersecting vulnerabilities may be disproportionately impacted by these major events.

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health