Page 449 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

416 n PReGNANCY

team communication, support groups, and healing birth experience. Subsequent births
self-responsibility (lefebvre et al., 2010). after a traumatic birth are an opportunity to
P Nurse researchers have also addressed heal or present the potential to further trau-
women’s experiences during a subsequent matize women.
pregnancy after a pregnancy loss. Woods- Obesity during pregnancy has gained
Giscombé, lobel, and Crandell (2010) exam- increasing attention over the past decade.
ined the impact of miscarriage and parity on Groth and Kearney (2009) interviewed a
patterns of maternal distress in pregnancy diverse sample of low-income women who
and found that state anxiety and pregnancy- delivered an infant in the last year regarding
specific distress were high during the first their perceptions of gestational weight gain.
trimester and decreased as pregnancy pro- Women in the study were concerned about
gressed. However, women with a history of weight gain during pregnancy, but most of
a prior loss tended to have higher levels of them focused on the effects of insufficient
state anxiety in the second and third trimes- gain on the developing fetus, without con-
ters when compared with women who had cern for the risks of excessive gain. Inaccurate
not experienced a loss (Woods-Giscombé information regarding appropriate gesta-
et al., 2010). tional weight gain and the difficulty of return
Depression during the childbearing to prepregnancy weight was common.
cycle has received increased attention in Nurse researchers have also investi-
recent years. Studies have focused on antena- gated weight gain behaviors during preg-
tal depression and postpartum depression. nancy, interventions to improve weight loss
A recent pilot study (Jesse et al., 2010) found after pregnancy, and maternal eating behav-
that an exercise intervention helped low- iors. Obesity and its effects on pregnancy
income women who were at risk for antena- and pregnancy outcomes have also been
tal depression. Dennis (2010) found that peer addressed by nurse researchers. The idea that
support in the form of a volunteer who made fetal genes can be influenced both positively
phone calls to women during the postpartum and negatively by the in utero environment
period contributed to prevention of postpar- is a newer concept that is gaining momen-
tum depression. tum in nursing research, particularly in the
Beck and Watson (2010) examined the area of maternal obesity and later affects on
experience of pregnant women who gave the offspring.
birth to a second child after a traumatic first various health-promoting behaviors
birth. Women in the study met the criteria for during pregnancy have been examined by
posttraumatic stress disorder. Women who nurse researchers. Yeo, Cisewski, lock, and
experience a traumatic first birth tend to have Marron (2010) examined exercise adherence
fewer total children and wait a longer length in pregnant women and found that adher-
of time before becoming pregnant again. ence decreased as gestation increased and
Childbirth-related posttraumatic stress dis- that “top adherers” maintained their level of
order impacted women’s relationships with adherence whereas those with lower levels of
their partner, communication, conflict, emo- adherence decreased their participation (Yeo
tions, and bonding with their infants (Beck et al., 2010). Adherence was also influenced
& Watson, 2010). Four themes emerged from by exercise type and sedentary pregnant
these interviews: riding the turbulent wave women were found to adopt exercise habits
of panic during pregnancy; strategizing: differently than other sedentary populations
attempts to reclaim their body and complete (Yeo et al., 2010).
the journey to motherhood; bringing rever- Weiss, Fawcett, and Aber (2009) inves-
ence to the birthing process and empower- tigated adaptation, postpartum concerns,
ing women; and still elusive: the longed-for and learning needs in the first 2 weeks after