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The childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the Western Cape

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the lived childbirth experiences of middle adolescent mothers between 14 and 16 years of age. Methodology: A qualitative design was followed, using Husserl's phenomenological approach. Information was gathered by semi-structured conversations. Id...

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Main Author: Füzy, Elizabeth
Other Authors: Clow, Sheila
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Division of Nursing and Midwifery 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Füzy, Elizabeth
author2 Clow, Sheila
author_browse Clow, Sheila
Füzy, Elizabeth
author_facet Clow, Sheila
Füzy, Elizabeth
author_sort Füzy, Elizabeth
collection Thesis
description Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the lived childbirth experiences of middle adolescent mothers between 14 and 16 years of age. Methodology: A qualitative design was followed, using Husserl's phenomenological approach. Information was gathered by semi-structured conversations. Identified themes and sub-themes (Colaizzi's steps) were presented to participants for authentication during follow-up conversations. Study Setting: Two hospitals in the Cape Town Metropolitan area, Western Cape, South Africa. Participants: Six adolescent girls between the ages of 14 and 16 years of age who had normal vaginal births of healthy, term infants. Findings: An over-arching theme of preservation of personhood was identified. Themes and sub-themes were derived according to three Husserlian phenomenological concepts. Within these concepts three essential themes emerged from the conversations: i) essences: physically underdeveloped and emotionally unprepared for childbirth, ii) intentionality and consciousness: an unsettled state of mind during childbirth, and iii) life-world: feeling physically and emotionally overwhelmed by the experience. Conclusion: The participants highly valued the presence of a support person; they indicated that their mothers were their first choice. Friendly, helpful, respectful and non-judgmental care from nurses and midwives were associated with more positive birth experiences while humiliation, victimisation and rudeness were associated with negative birth experiences. Implications for adolescent-friendly practice: A condensed form of antenatal education is needed together with adolescent-friendly health care services to ensure better preparedness and experiences. Shared-decision making regarding certain aspects of childbirth is necessary. Continuous labour support is an important coping strategy and pain management is vital. Additional training is needed to address midwives' attitudes. Quality assessment tools are needed to address the mistreatment of maternity patients in health care facilities.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:38.153Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Division of Nursing and Midwifery
publisherStr Division of Nursing and Midwifery
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20837 The childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the Western Cape Füzy, Elizabeth Clow, Sheila Fouché, Nicola Nursing Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the lived childbirth experiences of middle adolescent mothers between 14 and 16 years of age. Methodology: A qualitative design was followed, using Husserl's phenomenological approach. Information was gathered by semi-structured conversations. Identified themes and sub-themes (Colaizzi's steps) were presented to participants for authentication during follow-up conversations. Study Setting: Two hospitals in the Cape Town Metropolitan area, Western Cape, South Africa. Participants: Six adolescent girls between the ages of 14 and 16 years of age who had normal vaginal births of healthy, term infants. Findings: An over-arching theme of preservation of personhood was identified. Themes and sub-themes were derived according to three Husserlian phenomenological concepts. Within these concepts three essential themes emerged from the conversations: i) essences: physically underdeveloped and emotionally unprepared for childbirth, ii) intentionality and consciousness: an unsettled state of mind during childbirth, and iii) life-world: feeling physically and emotionally overwhelmed by the experience. Conclusion: The participants highly valued the presence of a support person; they indicated that their mothers were their first choice. Friendly, helpful, respectful and non-judgmental care from nurses and midwives were associated with more positive birth experiences while humiliation, victimisation and rudeness were associated with negative birth experiences. Implications for adolescent-friendly practice: A condensed form of antenatal education is needed together with adolescent-friendly health care services to ensure better preparedness and experiences. Shared-decision making regarding certain aspects of childbirth is necessary. Continuous labour support is an important coping strategy and pain management is vital. Additional training is needed to address midwives' attitudes. Quality assessment tools are needed to address the mistreatment of maternity patients in health care facilities. 2016-07-27T10:15:00Z 2016-07-27T10:15:00Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20837 eng application/pdf Division of Nursing and Midwifery Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Nursing
Füzy, Elizabeth
The childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the Western Cape
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the Western Cape
title_full The childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the Western Cape
title_fullStr The childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the Western Cape
title_full_unstemmed The childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the Western Cape
title_short The childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the Western Cape
title_sort childbirth experiences of adolescent mothers in the western cape
topic Nursing
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20837
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