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Between blame and care: women's ‘needs talk’ about obesity interventions in prenatal care
Author(s) -
Lauridsen Drude Skov
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1111/1467-9566.13058
Subject(s) - blame , prenatal care , ambivalence , psychological intervention , pregnancy , body mass index , obesity , medicine , psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , population , environmental health , pathology , biology , genetics
Pregnant women's weight is no longer a private life situation, but a public health issue. In western prenatal care policies, pregnant women with a high body mass index ( BMI ) are targeted as a high‐risk group in need of extra prenatal care to prevent pregnancy complications and childhood obesity. Recent studies argue that such targeting leads to a number of unintended negative consequences for women such as stigmatisation and mother blame. While targeting based on BMI increases the surveillance of women's weight and behaviour in pregnancy, it might also provide extra care and services for women. This article draws on Nancy Fraser's concept of ‘needs talk’ to investigate how women interpret Danish prenatal care services provided to meet the ‘obese’ pregnant women's needs. The analysis shows that women engage ambivalently with claims about their needs and who they ‘are’ as these are formulated by health authorities. Some claims and assumptions about the ‘obese’ pregnant woman are accepted. Others are rejected or redefined. The article concludes by discussing maternal ambivalence about the obesity discourse in relation to the ‘obese’ pregnant woman as a category that positions women between being blamed and receiving extra prenatal care.