title: "Keeping up a front": narratives about intimate partner violence, pregnancy, and antenatal care.
abstract: Nine women who had been subjected to severe intimate partner violence during pregnancy narrated their ambiguous and contradictory feelings and the various balancing strategies they used to overcome their complex and difficult situations. Because allowing anyone to come close posed a threat, the women mostly denied the situation and kept up a front to hide the violence from others. Three women disclosed ongoing violence to the midwives, but only one said such disclosure was helpful. This article highlights the complexity of being pregnant when living with an abusive partner and challenges antenatal care policies from the perspective of pregnant women.
authors.affiliation: Umeå University, Sweden. kerstin.edin@epiph.umu.se
authors.forename: Kerstin E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Edin
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dahlgren
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lalos
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Högberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People / Q000523:psychology*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D055815:Young Adult