Hi Soo,
I think Penny is right. I doubt whether there will be a "best" time. I am
doing a grounded theory study, interviewing women in three coutnries in
Europe during pregnancy until 6 months after birth ( we decided what we
thought was best). Although my head is a chaos after 26 interviews, I am
beginning to see a structure. What I can say about timing is following:
1. The topic was needs in pregnancy, and then all those birth stories came,
especially in Scotland. Although my supervisor thought at first it was not
relevant, it was. Women close " the whole experience" some period after
birth ( "a closing of "consciousness"- they say: "so I can put it at rest"),
if they CAN close it at all. Careproviders play an important role there (
postnatally).
2. One of "my" women said, "it is alright until about 6 months pp., because
your physical health is well, and your baby`s health is well, and then you
start thinking it over, and think...hey, this wasn`t really what I wanted
etc."
They call that "emotional bagage".
3. As I see strategies coming up between the first and the second pregnancy,
I think about interviewing some women in between at this moment.
4. Concerning "risk"; I think it does not matter when, you don't have to
wait till afterwards. Women can talk about "perception" the whole time,
because this is what they are doing the whole time ( "consciousness
process"). They might talk about "chances" though, when they have translated
it in their own mind and world.
It depends on your goal and question.
Don`t know if this helps..
Greetings,
Ans
Ans Luyben
Midwifery school, Chur/ Switzerland
----- Original Message -----
From: "Soo Downe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: timing of qualitative interviews
While there is work which demonstrates that womens views don't change over
time for some things (such as that undertaken by Penny Simkin) Im not aware
of any good studies on the timing of assessment of outcomes or of
experience. In fact we are about to submit a bid to undertake an extensive
mixed-method systematic review in the area of postnatnal outcomes - if
no-one else has any info at this time, we may have in a couple of years!
(fingers well crossed...). I would also be very interested to know if anyone
else knows of work in this area.
all the best
soo
>>> Katja Stahl <[log in to unmask]> 05/07/03 11:17am >>>
Dear list members,
I'm planning to conduct a study about women's perceptions of risk in
pregnancy and their experience of a risk-dominated antenatal care
approach (semi-structured interviews).
Does anyone happen to know any studies where the timing of the
interviews is discussed (either during pregnancy (when? second/third
trimester? or during the postnatal period)?
Thanks for your help.
Katja
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