'High-risk' pregnancy after perinatal loss: understanding the label

Abstract

Objective: to explore women's experience of living with a 'high-risk' pregnancy following a perinatal loss.

Design: a feminist phenomenological methodology provided the framework for the research study.

Participants and setting: the experience of 'high-risk' pregnancy following perinatal loss of seven women receiving care at a tertiary health centre in Atlantic Canada was explored by way of conversational interviews and reflective journaling.

Findings: four themes emerged through thematic analysis and researcher interpretation: (1) understanding the meaning in the label of 'high-risk' pregnancy, (2) relational engagement with the unborn infant, (3) insight and acceptance of the influence of previous loss, and (4) essentiality of information. Taken together, these four themes represent the storied text embedded in the research study. The focus of attention in this article is based solely on the first theme, understanding the meaning in the label of 'high-risk' pregnancy, in so far as this fosters an ability to attend to the interpretive text in the methodological manner appropriate to phenomenological inquiry.

Conclusions and implications: although previous research indicates that the label of 'high-risk' in pregnancy is often associated with increased anxiety and fear, findings from this study suggest that a 'high-risk' pregnancy following perinatal loss results in women embracing the 'high-risk' label. By recognising the possibility that women experiencing 'high-risk' pregnancy following perinatal loss may perceive the label of 'high-risk' pregnancy in a positive way, nurses, midwives and other health-care providers may begin to alter their practices when caring for these women in current health-care environments.