Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
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PAGE 143<br />
to have a significant impact <strong>on</strong> women’s freedom to choose to take <strong>on</strong><br />
gendered roles.<br />
Areschoug (2005: 166), reviewing Swedish discourses related to birth<br />
c<strong>on</strong>trol <strong>and</strong> adults with intellectual disabilities from 1967 – 2003,<br />
discusses a situati<strong>on</strong> in the mid to late eighties <strong>and</strong> early nineties where<br />
women with intellectual disabilities withdrew from services (including,<br />
in <strong>on</strong>e instance, an antenatal clinic) <strong>and</strong> were anxious to keep their<br />
pregnancy a secret for fear <strong>of</strong> c<strong>on</strong>trol being taken from them or <strong>of</strong> being<br />
persuaded to have an aborti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are<br />
<strong>Accessible</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>Appropriate</strong> <strong>of</strong> Provisi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Review</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Literature</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy<br />
McC<strong>on</strong>nell et al. (2008) examined whether poor mental health in<br />
mothers with intellectual disability was already evident during their<br />
pregnancy. The study involved 40 women with intellectual disability or<br />
self-reported learning difficulties, who participated in a series <strong>of</strong> pre<strong>and</strong><br />
post-partum interviews. A high level <strong>of</strong> anxiety was more comm<strong>on</strong><br />
than either depressi<strong>on</strong> or stress in the sample. The authors propose that<br />
<strong>on</strong>e possible explanati<strong>on</strong> for this finding (in line with previous research)<br />
is the significant oppositi<strong>on</strong> to childbearing that these women face,<br />
<strong>and</strong> their fear that c<strong>on</strong>trol over their pregnancy <strong>and</strong> their baby will be<br />
taken away from them by others (Booth & Booth, 1994; Llewellyn, 1994;<br />
Mayes et al., 2006). They recognised that further research was needed<br />
to determine whether the odds <strong>of</strong> pre-partum depressi<strong>on</strong>, anxiety <strong>and</strong><br />
stress are greater in women with intellectual disability compared to the<br />
general populati<strong>on</strong> in Australia, <strong>and</strong> if so, to what extent. The findings<br />
nevertheless suggest that improved measures are needed to alleviate<br />
these negative emoti<strong>on</strong>al states during pregnancy, which are <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
compounded by the women’s cognitive deficits (McC<strong>on</strong>nell et al., 2008).<br />
Mayes et al. (2006) investigated the lived experience <strong>of</strong> pregnancy<br />
through multiple interviews over time with 17 pregnant women with<br />
intellectual disability. To varying degrees, each woman negotiated her<br />
support networks to exclude people who were perceived as a threat <strong>and</strong><br />
to include those who were supportive. The women’s agency in doing so<br />
was a direct resp<strong>on</strong>se to their anxiety about having c<strong>on</strong>trol taken from<br />
them, <strong>and</strong> the fear <strong>of</strong> decisi<strong>on</strong>s being made by others about them <strong>and</strong><br />
their unborn children.