Representações sociais do parto entre gestantes de alto risco

Abstract

Women, in the gestational period, create expectations regarding childbirth, based on different contexts, knowledge and experiences lived by them, or even shared by other women. When faced with a high-risk pregnancy, certain feelings related to the parturition process are intensified, given the concerns related to premature birth, complications, fetal malformation or even maternal and neonatal death. Added to these concerns, the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, since 2020. Considering that the meanings about childbirth are socially constructed, this study sought to investigate the social representations of childbirth among high-risk pregnant women - nulliparous and multiparous - who perform prenatal care in a maternity hospital in Campina Grande, Paraíba, during the 2021 pandemic scenario. Individual interviews were carried out with 12 high-risk pregnant women, who were undergoing prenatal care at that institution. Data collection was carried out virtually, through the Google Meet platform, in view of the recommendations for social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a collection instrument, the semi-structured interview was used, whose material was analyzed based on the content analysis proposal. The analysis allowed the construction of 7 thematic categories, organized into two thematic axes: I. The contexts of knowledge: COVID-19 pandemic; previous experiences in health services; social network; and sources of information about childbirth; II. Pregnancy and Delivery: High-risk pregnancy; Expectations and feelings about childbirth; preferences and social representations of childbirth. The first thematic axis discusses the emergence of representational content in the face of the current pandemic context. The second axis brings the results about the representations previously constructed and carried in the face of a high gestational risk. Understanding the Social Representations of childbirth of high-risk pregnant women contributes to drawing up better plans for the promotion and prevention of obstetric health in the city, subsidizing high-risk prenatal actions focused on the childbirth issue.