For a pregnant woman to be rushed suddenly to hospital
with high blood pressure can be terrifying - both she and her unborn child could be at serious risk. To help hospitals plan procedures for making the experience as comforting and supportive as possible, health psychologist
Julie Barlow and her colleagues interviewed twelve pregnant women about their experience of being hospitalised with high blood pressure. The interviews were held within three days of the women's hospital admission.
Qualitative analysis of the women's comments uncovered four key themes. The women were
searching for meaning in what had happened to them. For example, several of them reported feeling like frauds because they hadn't experienced any symptoms (their condition had been identified by routine tests). "It's to do with preeclampsia" one woman said, "but I didn't understand what that is cos I'm fine in myself and the baby's fine... and you're thinking 'why can't I go home?'"
The women tended to search for the
possible causes of their condition, especially in relation to stressful events. One woman said it would be beneficial to learn relaxation techniques.
There were several comments pointing to the problem of
inconsistent information from clinical staff. "I'm fed up with it," one woman said. "They tell you different things...when I got brought in, they says, you'll be in for a fortnight and you'll probably have the baby. And next breath...you'll probably have the baby in two to three days."
Evidence also emerged for what the researchers labelled
social factors - the perceived benefit of support, especially from husbands, and the tendency for the woman to compare themselves to others at the hospital who were either better off than they were (so-called "upward social comparison") or less well off ("downward social comparison"). For example, one woman felt reassured by the sight of another patient having a normal delivery and appearing fine.
The researchers cautioned that this research is only preliminary; nevertheless, some practical implications were already apparent. For example, the researchers said hospital staff should be aware that "fear, anxiety and being in strange surroundings could interfere with women's ability to absorb information." Relationship support from partners and parents also seemed important, they said, and the introduction of relaxation techniques to the ward could be beneficial.
译文:
怀孕妇女带着上升的血压被匆忙送到医院是什么样的情况
对于怀孕的女人来说，被匆忙送到医院，使得血压升高，这是一件让人惊恐的事——母亲和未出生的孩子都会有很严重的风险。为帮助医院增加经验的计划过程尽可能的让人欣慰并受到支持，健康心理学家朱莉巴洛和她的同事们研究了12位怀孕妇女，关于她们被送到医院使得血压升高的经历。这个是对三天的妇女住院的研究。
这些妇女的描述的定性分析不包括4个重点主题。妇女们在搜索着已经发生的事情对她们有什么意义。例如，她们中的一些人反应那感觉就像是被欺骗了，因为她们根本没有任何要生孩子的症状（她们的情况已经由常规测试所鉴定）。“这与子痫前期有关”一位妇女说，“但我不能理解那是什么，因为我和孩子一点事都没有...而且你还在想‘为什么我不能回家？’”
这些妇女希望寻找出她们那种情况的可能原因，尤其是与压力有关的事情。一位妇女说学习松弛法受益匪浅。
从临床工作者那我们得到了一些不一致信息问题的评价。“我受够了，”一位妇女说。“他们告诉你不同的事情。当我被送进来时，他们说，你要呆在这两个星期，可能会生下孩子。下一个又说......你可能会在两到三天之内生下孩子。”
现在也出现了一些迹象，那些研究人员标志的社会因素——援助的可知益处，尤其是从丈夫那，以及妇女将自己与同在医院的那些情况比她们好一点或坏一点的人那（“向下社会比较”）。例如，一个妇女看见其他病人正常生产，情况良好，就会觉得很安心。
研究人员告诫说这个研究只是初步的，不过，一些实际的影响已经很明显了。比如说，研究人员告知医院工作人员应该意识到“恐惧，焦虑和处于陌生的环境会影响到妇女吸收信息的能力。”从自己另一半和父母那得到的支持也很重要，他们这样说，而且松弛法的推广也很受益。