Conceiving Subjectivity, Version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Conceiving subjectivity: An exploration of women's subjectivity during pregnancy
IRAS ID
221304
Contact name
Maureen Haaker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Essex
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
This research seeks to explore women's everyday experiences of pregnancy and provide an enriching account of women's own perceptions of their changing bodies during pregnancy. This project, done as part of a PhD programme in Sociology at University of Essex, is particularly concerned with how women conceptualise and explain the relationship between themselves, their foetus and wider society, and how these understandings change as pregnancy progresses. Given the rapid legal and medical changes to reproduction, this kind of account has an increasing importance for on how to best support pregnant women, as well as providing a further viewpoint into how beliefs and values change as bodies change.
The study design uses the diary-interview method; pregnant women will be asked to keep diaries throughout their pregnancy and will be invited to monthly, hour-long interviews which will explore what adaptations they have made in their everyday lives to respond to bodily changes. An advertisement for the study will be placed in Ipswich Hospital and Suffolk GP waiting rooms, and potential participants can then contact the Chief Investigator for further information. Criteria for participation is adult (18 and over), English-speaking women living in the Ipswich area who are at any point in their pregnancy. A maximum of 15 women will be recruited. Participants can join at any point in their pregnancy, and will continue up until childbirth. The length of time spent as part of the study will vary among participants, and is expected to be anywhere from one month to six months. The diaries kept by women will be returned to them as a memoir of their pregnancy.
The output of this project is a thesis which will be examined for a doctorate degree, as well as other publications, including book and journal articles.REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0404
Date of REC Opinion
5 Dec 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion