IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v66y2020i8p792-798.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors influencing decision-making around pregnancy among women with severe mental illness (SMI): A qualitative study

Author

Listed:
  • Ashlesha Bagadia
  • Madhuri H Nanjundaswamy
  • Sundarnag Ganjekar
  • Harish Thippeswamy
  • Geetha Desai
  • Prabha S Chandra

Abstract

Background: Decision-making around pregnancy is challenging for women with severe mental illness (SMI), and several clinical and socio-cultural factors might influence this process. Aim: The main objective of this study was to determine factors that influence decision-making regarding pregnancy for women with SMI. Methods: Using a qualitative design, 42 women with SMI who were pregnant or planning pregnancy were assessed using a semi-structured interview by an independent researcher not involved in their clinical care. Areas of inquiry included knowledge about their illness, treatment; family and societal beliefs on mental illness and motherhood; illness management; and attitude towards medical advice. Results: Among the 42 women, majority of the women (88%) reported reduced autonomy in decision-making related to pregnancy. Stigma was one of the major contributory factors in decision-making. Over 80% reported not using contraception despite medical advice due to lack of control over the decisions related to the use of contraception. Over 50% of the women in the study believed that taking psychotropic medications during pregnancy would definitely harm the baby. A similar number believed that their illness would not recur if medications were to be stopped during pregnancy. Conclusion: Women with SMI who plan to become pregnant, especially from low-income settings in India, are disadvantaged by stigma and societal expectations, affecting their ability to make optimum decisions during this crucial period. Decision-making around pregnancy in women with SMI is complex and appears to be influenced by several socio-cultural factors and needs to be dealt with sensitively.

Suggested Citation

  • Ashlesha Bagadia & Madhuri H Nanjundaswamy & Sundarnag Ganjekar & Harish Thippeswamy & Geetha Desai & Prabha S Chandra, 2020. "Factors influencing decision-making around pregnancy among women with severe mental illness (SMI): A qualitative study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(8), pages 792-798, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:66:y:2020:i:8:p:792-798
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764020925104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764020925104
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764020925104?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Noralie N. Schonewille & Monique J. M. van den Eijnden & Nini H. Jonkman & Anne A. M. W. van Kempen & Maria G. van Pampus & Francisca G. Goedhart & Odile A. van den Heuvel & Birit F. P. Broekman, 2023. "Experiences with Family Planning amongst Persons with Mental Health Problems: A Nationwide Patient Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-14, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:66:y:2020:i:8:p:792-798. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.