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Between stigma and mother‐blame: blind mothers' experiences in USA hospital postnatal care
Author(s) -
Frederick Angela
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.12286
Subject(s) - blame , psychology , postnatal care , skepticism , nursing , stigma (botany) , ideology , competence (human resources) , medicine , developmental psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , pregnancy , political science , philosophy , genetics , epistemology , biology , politics , law
This study examines instances of discrimination that blind mothers in the USA have experienced at the hands of doctors, nurses and social workers during hospital postnatal care. The author identifies postnatal care as the time when blind mothers are likely to face the most stigmatising interactions with medical staff, as it is when scepticism about their competence as mothers is at its height. The author argues these interactions must be understood within their institutional context in which ideologies of risk and mother‐blame are embedded in hospital postnatal practices.