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Blessings and Curses: Exploring the Experiences of New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of this study was to explore the postpartum experiences of new parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The postpartum period can be a time of significant transition, both positive and negative, for parents as they navigate new relationships with their babies and shifts in family dynamics. Phys...

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Autores principales: Joy, Phillip, Aston, Megan, Price, Sheri, Sim, Meaghan, Ollivier, Rachel, Benoit, Britney, Akbari-Nassaji, Neda, Iduye, Damilola
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8608056/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34968364
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nursrep10020023
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author Joy, Phillip
Aston, Megan
Price, Sheri
Sim, Meaghan
Ollivier, Rachel
Benoit, Britney
Akbari-Nassaji, Neda
Iduye, Damilola
author_facet Joy, Phillip
Aston, Megan
Price, Sheri
Sim, Meaghan
Ollivier, Rachel
Benoit, Britney
Akbari-Nassaji, Neda
Iduye, Damilola
author_sort Joy, Phillip
collection PubMed
description The aim of this study was to explore the postpartum experiences of new parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The postpartum period can be a time of significant transition, both positive and negative, for parents as they navigate new relationships with their babies and shifts in family dynamics. Physical distancing requirements mandated by public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic had the potential to create even more stress for parents with a newborn. Examining personal experiences would provide health care professionals with information to help guide support during significant isolation. Feminist poststructuralism guided the qualitative research process. Sixty-eight new mothers completed an open-ended on-line survey. Responses were analyzed using discourse analysis to examine the beliefs, values, and practices of the participants relating to their family experiences during the pandemic period. It was found that pandemic isolation was a time of complexity with both ‘blessings and curses’. Participants reported that it was a time for family bonding and enjoyment of being a new parent without the usual expectations. It was also a time of missed opportunities as they were not able to share milestones and memories with extended family. Caring for a newborn during the COVID-19 pandemic where complex contradictions were constructed by competing social discourses created difficult dichotomies for families. In acknowledging the complex experiences of mothers during COVID-19 isolation, nurses and midwives can come to understand and help new parents to focus on the blessings of this time while acknowledging the curses.
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spelling pubmed-86080562021-12-28 Blessings and Curses: Exploring the Experiences of New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic Joy, Phillip Aston, Megan Price, Sheri Sim, Meaghan Ollivier, Rachel Benoit, Britney Akbari-Nassaji, Neda Iduye, Damilola Nurs Rep Article The aim of this study was to explore the postpartum experiences of new parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The postpartum period can be a time of significant transition, both positive and negative, for parents as they navigate new relationships with their babies and shifts in family dynamics. Physical distancing requirements mandated by public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic had the potential to create even more stress for parents with a newborn. Examining personal experiences would provide health care professionals with information to help guide support during significant isolation. Feminist poststructuralism guided the qualitative research process. Sixty-eight new mothers completed an open-ended on-line survey. Responses were analyzed using discourse analysis to examine the beliefs, values, and practices of the participants relating to their family experiences during the pandemic period. It was found that pandemic isolation was a time of complexity with both ‘blessings and curses’. Participants reported that it was a time for family bonding and enjoyment of being a new parent without the usual expectations. It was also a time of missed opportunities as they were not able to share milestones and memories with extended family. Caring for a newborn during the COVID-19 pandemic where complex contradictions were constructed by competing social discourses created difficult dichotomies for families. In acknowledging the complex experiences of mothers during COVID-19 isolation, nurses and midwives can come to understand and help new parents to focus on the blessings of this time while acknowledging the curses. MDPI 2020-12-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8608056/ /pubmed/34968364 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nursrep10020023 Text en © 2020 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
Joy, Phillip
Aston, Megan
Price, Sheri
Sim, Meaghan
Ollivier, Rachel
Benoit, Britney
Akbari-Nassaji, Neda
Iduye, Damilola
Blessings and Curses: Exploring the Experiences of New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title Blessings and Curses: Exploring the Experiences of New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full Blessings and Curses: Exploring the Experiences of New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr Blessings and Curses: Exploring the Experiences of New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Blessings and Curses: Exploring the Experiences of New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short Blessings and Curses: Exploring the Experiences of New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort blessings and curses: exploring the experiences of new mothers during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8608056/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34968364
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nursrep10020023
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