Living with the threat of preterm labor: Women's work of keeping the baby in.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the social organization of women's preterm labor experiences.


METHODS
Institutional ethnography investigated how the woman's experience is socially organized and for patterns of how something is organized to recur.


METHODS
Eight women who experienced preterm labor while living in one city in Western Canada volunteered to participate.


METHODS
Institutional ethnographic methodology guided the analysis of audiotaped transcribed interviews to understand the work these women do and the complexities of their everyday lives.


RESULTS
Women spoke about their fear of going home and feeling alone with the responsibility for their work of "keeping the baby in." Overall, preterm labor was experienced as a profound sense of personal responsibility for preventing preterm birth and was practiced as being "careful."


CONCLUSIONS
The assumption that the family is privately responsible for care work in the home results in the lack of assessment of resources for managing the medical plan on discharge and the lack of resources available or offered to assist families. The work of keeping the baby in conflicts with family care work responsibilities and can cause significant hardships for some women and families.
MacKinnon
Karen
K
Centre for Rural Health Research, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. karenm@ruralmatresearch.net
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001510:Bed Rest / Q000523:psychology; D002170:Canada; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy; D018566:Pregnancy, High-Risk / Q000523:psychology; D037841:Pregnant People / Q000523:psychology*; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012944:Social Support; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires