title: Mothers' perceptions of their health choices, related duties and responsibilities: A qualitative interview study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to describe mothers' perceptions of their health choices, related duties and responsibilities.
  
  
  METHODS
  descriptive exploratory study with qualitative research method.
  
  
  METHODS
  interviews conducted after the clients' regular health visits to one publicly provided maternity clinic in a southern city in Finland.
  
  
  METHODS
  13 mothers aged between 21 and 40-years-old, who were pregnant or had given birth in the past four weeks. Six of participants were pregnant or had delivered for first time and it was the second to fourth pregnancy for the remainder.
  one-to-one semi-structured interviews using the inductive content analysis method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  women reported increased responsibility for their health choices for themselves and their baby during pregnancy. However, their duties and responsibilities were seldom discussed at maternity clinics. The duty to reconsider their health choices was described as a predictor of commitment to their pregnancy and motherhood, but they recognised that it required sufficient knowledge to realise this. In addition, the mothers said their health choices changed from private to one of public interest during this period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  health choices are connected to maternal duties and responsibilities, but they can sometimes lack clarity during this new phase of life. In future, more research should be conducted to study maternal duties and responsibilities in different contexts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  findings highlight the skills of nurses and midwives at maternity clinics to discuss and support mothers' moral pondering during pregnancy. Although health choices in general are well recognised as a part of maternal counselling, these findings suggest a moral perspective should be incorporated into the advice that is provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627 70211, Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: mari.kangasniemi@uef.fi.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kangasniemi
authors.affiliation: Hospital Services of the City of Vantaa, The City of Vantaa, Finland. Electronic address: katja.blomberg@vantaa.fi.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Blomberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Adolescence, Oulu University Hospital, P.O. Box 23 90029 OYS, Finland. Electronic address: anne.t.korhonen@ppshp.fi.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Korhonen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health; D055815:Young Adult