REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Reflective Journal

Reflective Journal

Keywords:

fear of childbirth;

phenomenology;

negative birth experience;

birth trauma

ABSTRACT

Objective: To describe the meaning of previous experiences of childbirth in pregnant women who have exhibited intense fear of childbirth such that it has an impact on their daily lives.

Design: A descriptive phenomenological study.

Setting: A maternity clinic for women with fear of childbirth in the western part of Sweden.

Participants: Nine women with intense fear of childbirth who were pregnant with their second child and considered their previous birth experiences negative.

Methods: Interviews that were transcribed verbatim and analyzed with a reflective life-world approach.

Results: The essential meanings that emerged were a sense of not being present in the delivery room and an incomplete childbirth experience. The women felt as if they had no place there, that they were unable to take their place, and that even if the midwife was present, she did not provide support. The experience remained etched in the women's minds and gave rise to feelings of fear, loneliness, and lack of faith in their ability to give birth and diminished trust in maternity care. These experiences contrasted with brief moments that made sense.

Conclusions: Previous childbirth experiences for pregnant women with intense fear of childbirth have a deep influence and can be related to suffering and birth trauma. The implication is to provide maternity care where the nurse/midwife is present and supports women during birth in a way that enables them to be present and take their place during birth.

Objective Explained

A wide range of research has been done on the effects of mainstreaming on learning disabled children. Although many studies have shown improvements and positive effects, none had addressed the best time to implement mainstreaming programs. In this study, students, who had been diagnosed as moderately learning disabled, were selected to represent their respective grade level. Group 1 consisted of 15 students in kindergarten through 2nd grade, and Group 2 consisted of 15 students in grades 3rd through 5th. Both groups were given the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Revised at the beginning of the semester before inclusion was implemented, and another at the end of the semester. Group 1 had shown a more significant difference in improvement than Group 2. This study shows that there are definitely positive effects of mainstreaming, but also hopes that these current findings will direct future research to detect learning disabilities as early as possible.

For many years now, there has been an increase of interest for the welfare of learning disabled children and their place in the normal classroom setting. The attempt to reintegrate special education students with learning disabilities has been a popular subject among the special education and research community (Shinn, Powell-Smith, Good, & Baker, 1997). They strive to create inclusion programs, however, has not just been a recent issue among these professionals. The movement began in 1975 when the Education of the Handicapped Act (now called The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) was created to develop programs across the United States. It's basic requirements were: (a) to make sure that all handicapped children (in private ...