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Suffering in the midst of technology

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Date Issued:
2013
Summary:
The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the essence of the lived experience of women after having an abnormal prenatal ultrasound. One hundred years ago, health disciplines had limited therapies for prenatal and neonatal disorders. During this period, the eugenics movement influenced leaders to involuntarily sterilize individuals who were sought to be "unfit" to prevent disorders in offspring. ... One of these contemporary reproductive genetic technologies is the use of ultrasound and serum bio-medical markers for detection of congenital, chromosome, and genetic disorders. When ultrasounds reveal abnormal findings, the perceived perfect pregnancy vanishes and gives way to feelings of shock, disbelief, fear, guilt, loss, and threats to self and their unborn baby. Twelve women who had an abnormal ultrasound were interviewed within the context of their cultural values and beliefs. The method of van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology illuminated the meaning for these women in their life worlds. ... They endured this experience through their own coping mechanisms, but often felt uncertainty and emotional turmoil until the birth. The women also sought comfort through their cultural values, beliefs, and traditions. In coping with the risks found on this abnormal ultrasound, women often selected silence or blocking perceived threats. With these coping methods, they were alone in their suffering. ... Health providers, in not recognizing these women's misunderstandings and emotional fears, abandoned them in their psychosocial and cultural needs. The significance reveals that nurses and health providers need to infuse human caring ways of being, knowing, and doing within advanced technological environments.
Title: Suffering in the midst of technology: the lived experience of an abnormal prenatal ultrasound.
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Name(s): Gottlieb, Jeanne C.
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2013
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: xiii, 261 p. : ill. (some col.)
Language(s): English
Summary: The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the essence of the lived experience of women after having an abnormal prenatal ultrasound. One hundred years ago, health disciplines had limited therapies for prenatal and neonatal disorders. During this period, the eugenics movement influenced leaders to involuntarily sterilize individuals who were sought to be "unfit" to prevent disorders in offspring. ... One of these contemporary reproductive genetic technologies is the use of ultrasound and serum bio-medical markers for detection of congenital, chromosome, and genetic disorders. When ultrasounds reveal abnormal findings, the perceived perfect pregnancy vanishes and gives way to feelings of shock, disbelief, fear, guilt, loss, and threats to self and their unborn baby. Twelve women who had an abnormal ultrasound were interviewed within the context of their cultural values and beliefs. The method of van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology illuminated the meaning for these women in their life worlds. ... They endured this experience through their own coping mechanisms, but often felt uncertainty and emotional turmoil until the birth. The women also sought comfort through their cultural values, beliefs, and traditions. In coping with the risks found on this abnormal ultrasound, women often selected silence or blocking perceived threats. With these coping methods, they were alone in their suffering. ... Health providers, in not recognizing these women's misunderstandings and emotional fears, abandoned them in their psychosocial and cultural needs. The significance reveals that nurses and health providers need to infuse human caring ways of being, knowing, and doing within advanced technological environments.
Identifier: 859864550 (oclc), 3362381 (digitool), FADT3362381 (IID), fau:4187 (fedora)
Note(s): by Jeanne Chatham Gottlieb.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.
Includes bibliography.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Reader.
Subject(s): Medical genetics
Medical care -- Decision-making
Health services accessibility
Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects
Pregnancy -- Complications -- Personal narratives
Diagnostic ultrasonic imaging
Communication in medicine
Genetic counseling
Genetic disorders -- Nursing -- Standards
Held by: FBoU FAUER
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362381
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU