The notion that pregnancy can, for some women, be a time of unhappiness and depression has only recently been recognized in media and by the general public. Researchers and clinicians have begun to study antenatal depression with regards to prevalence, associated factors, and treatment. Most of the research regarding antenatal depression has been quantitative in method. Qualitative inquiry would provide the rich description of womens lived experience and meaning of antenatal depression. A hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted with six women who scored 10, 11, or 12 on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, indicating mild to moderate symptoms of depression. Participants were interviewed individually regarding their experiences of depression during pregnancy. Data generated in the form of transcripts were analyzed and five themes emerged: disconnection vs. new connection and/or reconnection; loss of identity vs. new identity; fatigue and illness vs. vitality and wellness; anxiety and insecurity vs. confidence and security; and sadness and hopelessness vs. joy and expectation. The overarching shared meaning of these experiences was ambivalence. Findings provided rich, thick descriptions of the lived experience and meaning of antenatal depression. Future research and implications for counselling practice are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-09202009-160540 |
| Date | 23 September 2009 |
| Creators | McKillop, Erin |
| Contributors | Bowen, Angela, Martin, Stephanie, Downe, Pamela, Muhajarine, Nazeem |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-09202009-160540/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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