From being restrained to recapturing vitality: non-western immigrant women’s experiences of undergoing vitamin D treatment after childbirth

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Vitamin D deficiency is a complex topic in human health and ill-health and has been studied in a variety of contexts and populations. Few studies examine Vitamin D deficiency among non-western immigrant women and even fewer examine women’s perspective on daily life while living with low vitamin D levels after childbirth and undergoing vitamin D treatment. The aim was, therefore, to explore health and ill-health among non-western immigrant women living with low vitamin D levels after childbirth and reaching normalized levels after one year of vitamin D treatment.

Method: An explorative qualitative study using qualitative content analysis. Six women aged 25 to 38 years, diagnosed with low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels during pregnancy, were recruited after having undergone vitamin D treatment.

Results: The women told about living a restrained life which gradually transformed into an experience of recaptured vitality. They also experienced a need for continuity in medication, as an interruption of treatment meant returning symptoms.

Conclusion: In this study, non-western immigrant women described benefits in everyday life, increased strength, relieved pain and improved sleep quality. The findings can provide valuable knowledge for healthcare providers meeting women with physical weakness, musculoskeletal pain and/or poor sleep quality after childbirth. Further studies using a longitudinal design and larger samples are warranted.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-western immigrant women
• low vitamin D levels
• women’s health
• post pregnancy
• musculoskeletal pain
• sleep
• physical weakness
• qualitative methods

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the women who agreed to tell us their stories.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ninni Qvist

Ninni Qvist is a Registered Nurse and DXA technologist at the Osteoporosis Center, Inflammation and Infection Theme, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden.

Ingrid Bergström

Ingrid Bergström, MD PhD associated Professor. She is a researcher in hormones and physical activities effects on bone metabolism.

Torbjörn Åkerstedt

Torbjörn Åkerstedt, senior professor at Karolinska Institute, past director of the Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, past head of Stockholm Stress Center. Main research focus has been stress, sleep, and fatigue.

Jan Persson

Jan Persson, MD PhD, is a specialist in Anesthesiology and Pain Management. He is currently working in the department of Behavioral Medicine at the Karolinska University Hospital. His research interests are mainly in the fields of Pain and Pharmacology.

Hanne Konradsen

Hanne Konradsen is a professor at the Department of Gastroenterology and University of Copenhagen Denmark, and associated Professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Nursing, Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

Anette Forss

Anette Forss is senior lecturer at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Nursing, Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and visiting scholar at the Department of Philosophy, Stony Brook University, New York, USA.