Social Support and Motherhood by Oakley Ann

Author:Oakley, Ann [Oakley, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General, Marriage & Family
ISBN: 9780631182733
Google: PcSrDwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 4018768
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 1992-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

Different kinds of lessons can be derived from the experiences of the research midwives in the SSPO study. One set of lessons concerns the doing of research in the maternity services. This is an activity which requires delicate steering through the politics of the structure within which care is provided, including the control over obstetric work defined and exercised by medical and midwifery hierarchies (Garcia et al. 1988). Another moral is about the nature of the midwives’ work in the study: their comments reflect both an appreciation of the autonomy the job offered them, and a dislike of the need to submit their work to the arbitration of pre-set rules. The clearest examples of this were in relation to the procedure for random allocation, and the termination of the social support when the babies were born. Because of the experimental design of the study, and the timing of the ‘informed consent’ procedure, the research midwives were also led to reflect – more, perhaps, than researchers in many other kinds of research – about the ways in which taking part in research may subtly and not so subtly influence the lives of those who agree to do so. Their reflections on the extent to which the study’s design meant that women allocated to the control group may have both felt in receipt of support initially and then deprived of it are particularly interesting from the viewpoint of assessing the ‘success’ of the study. As noted earlier by designing the study in this way, so as to inform the control group for ethical reasons, we may well have minimized differences between intervention and control groups, and thus reduced our chances of establishing a ‘statistically significant’ impact of social support. (Conversely, of course, a ‘deprivation’ response on the part of some control group women may have worsened outcome and increased intervention – control group differences.)

Through the medium of the midwives’ experiences, the SSPO study throws a good deal of light on the way in which the maternity services currently operate in the four areas where the study was done. Much of this is no surprise to anyone who is acquainted with the ‘consumer satisfaction’ literature. As the research midwives reported, the maternity services may too often consist of different professionals giving conflicting information and advice, the results of which can increase women’s stress. This is particularly the case for a group already exposed to stress, as many of the women in the SSPO study were by virtue of their obstetric histories and current social and medical circumstances. In these respects, the findings of the SSPO study simply confirm other studies – both descriptive surveys of childbearing women’s attitudes, and other intervention studies such as the trial of the ‘Know Your Midwife’ scheme which show the contribution that continuity of care can make to the health of women and babies (Flint and Poulengeris 1987). In addition, our study shows how the research role of generalized social supporter can be preferred by women to the

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