Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Over time, the ‘normal’ experience of pregnancy transitioned to the hospital setting, leading to
a discourse steeped in the notions of risks and complications. Risks and complications refer to
health problems expectant women may experience, causing them to have a high-risk
pregnancy. High-risk pregnancy refers to a pregnancy that negatively affects the health of the
mother, the baby, or both, and evoking a range of emotional and psychological experiences.
Research on high-risk pregnancy is predominantly found in the medical arena. Such research
usually concerns the disease, while women’s emotional/psychological experiences are not
sufficiently documented. For this reason, the objectives of this study was to explore the
emotional and psychological experiences of women in the reviewed articles throughout their
high-risk pregnancies, and identify the medical conditions and complications in the same
reviewed articles.
Ethics clearance was obtained from the senate research committee at UWC. The systematic
review examined qualitative studies, including the qualitative components of mixed method
studies published between January 2006 and June 2017. The databases that were searched are
EbscoHost, JSTOR, Sage Journals Online, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Sabinet, Scopus,
Emerald eJournals Premier, Pubmed, as well as Taylor and Francis Open Access eJournals.
The study evaluated the literature found on these databases for methodological quality by using
three stages of review (i.e. abstract reading, title reading, and full-text reading) and applying a
meta-synthesis to the current evidence on the research topic.
The findings provide empirical evidence based on sound research that medical conditions and
complications (i.e. HELLP syndrome, thrombophilia, gestational diabetes, maternal near-miss
syndrome, foetal abnormality, preterm birth, hypertension, and uterine rupture) are associated
with women’s emotional and psychological experiences (i.e. fear, shock, feeling frightened,
sadness, worry, alienation, frustration, grief, guilt, anger, ambivalence, despair, upset,
loneliness and isolation, anxiety, depression, and PTSD) throughout their high-risk
pregnancies. As a result of this, survivors of severe pregnancy complications have subsequent
psychological and emotional challenges. It is therefore recommended that future researchers
consider including quantitative studies in a systematic review on the same topic.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/6739 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Isaacs, Nazeema Zainura |
| Contributors | Andipatin, Michelle |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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