Couples’ perception of maternal drinking: a sociocultural approach to an «ordinary risk»
At a glance
- Project leader : Prof. Dr. Raphaël Hammer, Prof. Yvonne Meyer, Prof. Dr. Jessica Pehlke-Milde
- Project team : Solène Gouilhers Hertig, Irina Radu
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : SNSF (SNF-Projektförderung / Projekt Nr. 169884)
- Project partner : Haute école de santé Vaud HESAV
- Contact person : Jessica Pehlke-Milde
Description
The consumption of alcohol during pregnancy and breastfeeding is
a public health issue characterized by uncertainty regarding the
effects of a low or moderate intake. Health policy-makers have
adopted a precautionary approach and recommend complete abstinence
from alcohol as the safest choice. In this context, maternal
drinking is not only a public health challenge but also an
important sociological issue.
Drawing on a socio-cultural perspective that explores how people
experience risk as part of their everyday lives, this longitudinal
qualitative project aims to better understand how couples
conceptualize and manage the issue of alcohol consumption during
pregnancy and breastfeeding. The objective is to examine the
values, norms, knowledge and constraints that shape the meaning of
alcohol use as a health risk. The project will focus on risk
perception as a two-fold process, by considering how the issue of
alcohol use is dealt with in the transition to the pregnancy and
breastfeeding stage, and how such a transition is managed within
the couple relationship.
The research design includes two series of semi-directive
qualitative interviews with about 40 couples in two cantons of
Switzerland (Vaud and Zurich). In the first series, pregnant women
and their partners will be interviewed separately. In the second
series, which will take place during the breastfeeding stage, only
the women will be interviewed.
The project intends to contribute to sociological and midwifery
debates about the influence of risk discourses and uncertainty on
people's attitudes to health in the context of the contemporary
medicalisation of motherhood. By providing an understanding of
couples’ representations of moderate or occasional alcohol
consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as of the
possible influence of the couple relationship on these
representations, this study will have implications for healthcare
professionals involved in pregnancy and maternity care, as well as
for public health stakeholders.
Publications
-
Pehlke-Milde, Jessica; Radu, Irina; Gouilhers, Solène; Hammer, Raphaël; Meyer, Yvonne,
2022.
BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth.
22(1), pp. 902.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-05247-0
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Hammer, Raphaël; Gouilhers, Solène; Radu, Irina; Pehlke-Milde, Jessica; Meyer, Yvonne,
2022.
SSM - Qualitative Research in Health.
2(100152).
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100152
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Pehlke-Milde, Jessica; Radu, Irina; Meyer, Yvonne; Gouilhers, Solène; Hammer, Raphaël,
2021.
Moderater Alkoholkonsum während Schwangerschaft und Stillzeit.
In:
6. Winterthurer Hebammensymposium, Winterthur, 11. September 2021.
-
Radu, Irina; Gouilhers, Solène; Hammer, Raphaël; Meyer, Yvonne; Pehlke-Milde, Jessica,
2021.
In:
2021 Congress of the Swiss Sociological Association : "Social Justice in Times of Uncertainty", Geneva, Switzerland (online), 28-30 June 2021.
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Gouilhers, Solène; Radu, Irina; Hammer, Raphaël; Meyer, Yvonne; Pehlke-Milde, Jessica,
2021.
Nouvelles Questions Féministes.
40(1), pp. 52-66.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.3917/nqf.401.0052
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Radu, Irina; Gouilhers, Solène; Hammer, Raphaël; Meyer, Yvonne,
2019.
In:
Swiss Public Health Congress 2019, Neuchâtel, 7. November 2019.
-
Radu, Irina; Pehlke-Milde, Jessica; Gouilhers, Solène; Hammer, Raphaël; Meyer, Yvonne,
2019.
In:
Dreiländerkongress Gesundheits- und Medizinsoziologie 2019, Winterthur, 27.-28. August 2019.
Available from: http://gessoz-kongress.ch/public/conferences/1/schedConfs/1/program-de_DE.pdf
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Radu, Irina; Gouilhers, Solène; Hammer, Raphaël; Meyer, Yvonne; Pehlke-Milde, Jessica,
2019.
Couples’ construction of boundaries of risk and responsibility during pregnancy.
In:
14th ESA Conference: Europe and Beyond: Boundaries, Barriers and Belonging, Manchester, United Kingdom, 20-23 August 2019.
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Radu, Irina; Gouilhers, Solène; Hammer, Raphaël; Meyer, Yvonne; Pehlke-Milde, Jessica,
2019.
In:
29. Deutschen Kongress für Perinatale Medizin, Berlin, 28.-30. November 2019.
Thieme.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-3401098
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Pehlke-Milde, Jessica; Radu, Irina; Gouilhers, Solène; Meyer, Yvonne; Hammer, Raphaël,
2019.
Transition to parenthood : alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
In:
NJF congress 2019 : Abstract book.
The 21st NJF Congress of the Nordic Federation of Midwives - Midwifery across borders, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2-4 May 2019.
Available from: https://www.njfcongress.is/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/NJF-2019-Abstractbook.pdf
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Simões-Wüst, Ana Paula; Pehlke-Milde, Jessica,
2018.
Schweizer Zeitschrift für Ernährungsmedizin.
2018(4), pp. 10-13.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-4843