#Preeclampsiasurvivor and symbolic interactionism in women’s maternal health

Abstract

A hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide, preeclampsia (PE) impacts approximately one in 25 pregnancies. Biomedical researchers continue to look for concrete causes and effective treatments for PE, but the experience of PE—the personal and socially constructed meanings surrounding the condition—remains under-researched. Using a symbolic interactionism approach, we examined Instagram posts accompanying the #preeclampsiasurvivor hashtag during Preeclampsia Awareness Month. Themes emerging from interpretive analysis of 98 posts (160 images) included the role of PE in redefining a woman’s relationship to her body, reifying a woman’s connection to her child, and illuminating the transitive aspects of a childbearing woman’s identity. Additionally, PE survivors turned to Instagram to speak to an imagined, ‘generalized sisterhood’ of women sharing a common set of experiences. Our study is unique in its examination of the lived experiences of PE survivors.

Acknowledgement

We thank our research assistant, Jaellyn Brady-Dennis.

Conflict of interest

The authors do not have any conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The study was partly funded by National Science Foundation (IIS # 1924092).