Research PaperPregnancy among women with physical disabilities: Unmet needs and recommendations on navigating pregnancy
Section snippets
Methods
The study was approved by the University of Massachusetts Medical School Institutional Review Board.
Participant characteristics
The average age of the women at the time of the youngest child's birth was 32. Nearly half of the women had children between the ages of 5–10, and two were pregnant with their second child at the time of the interview. Fifteen women had a pregnancy which was planned and ten unplanned. Twenty had fathers present in the lives of their child and five fathers were not present (see Table 1).
Women in the study reported a range of disabling conditions including dwarfism, muscular dystrophy,
Discussion
This study used qualitative methodology to examine the perinatal care experiences of US women with physical disabilities. The results of the study highlight their unmet needs for care, information, and support during their pregnancy and at postpartum. Consistent with findings from earlier studies, these women reported several barriers to a positive, healthy pregnancy experience. The barriers included clinicians' lack of knowledge and their attitudes, inaccessible offices and equipment,
Limitations
A major limitation of this study is that the women were all volunteers, which introduces the possibility of selection bias. It may be that women who participated were those who felt good about their experiences with childbirth, despite the challenges they may have encountered. Women who felt less positive about their experiences or had worse outcomes may have chosen not to participate. Since women were recruited using social media, disability-related organizations, and community-based
Conclusion
Just as public policy has evolved in the direction of encouraging individuals with disabilities to work, so it should support the aspiration of many women with disabilities to become parents. Clinicians should be provided the education necessary to prepare them to care for these women and both formal and informal supports should be made more widely available. The study also highlights a critical need for information on the potential impact of disability on pregnancy. In order to address the
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Financial disclosure: Authors have no financial interests to disclose.
This research is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. Award Number: R01HD074581.