Disrupted mothering : a drama in four acts

Abstract

The majority of women in the world will experience motherhood, and for most of them it is a profound and life-changing undertaking. In Western society contemporary motherhood is beset by social constructions of 'good' mothering. The social construct of the 'good' mother has consequences for how women enact and experience mothering, often culminating in feelings of intense responsibility, guilt and shame. These feelings are magnified when women are disrupted in their mothering by illness. Although some literature has explored mothering in the context of specific illnesses, the concept of disrupted mothering in itself has not been elucidated previously in the literature. This study aimed to explore women's experiences of mothering disrupted by illness. This research used a qualitative methodology drawing upon principles of feminism, social constructionism and storytelling. Data were collected during face-to-face and online interviews, and via the telephone. The twenty-seven women who participated were from either Australia or the United States of America, had between one and six children, and identified themselves as having been disrupted in their mothering by illness or injury. Once collected, data were analysed thematically and overlaid with a theatre metaphor. The theatre metaphor was extended to the entire thesis to give the work cohesion. In addition to the themes, theatrical scripts were created, distilling the women's experiences into a single narrative and offering alternative renditions of the play. Four dominant themes, each consisting of three sub-themes (referred to in the thesis as Acts and Scenes), were revealed in the women's stories. 'Act I - Playing the Part' revealed how illness impacted upon the women's maternal lives, mothering activities and treatment decisions. 'Act II - The Health Care Subplot' encompasses their experiences with health professionals, as well as the way being hospitalised affected their interactions with their children during the period of hospital confinement. 'Act III - The Supporting Cast' makes explicit women's main sources of support, namely their partners, female friends and relatives and others who indirectly helped the women with maintenance of maternal responsibility by supporting their children. 'Act IV - Reviewing the Performance' details how the women evaluated the quality of their mothering. The findings of this study have provided greater insight into: the way illness can threaten women's views of themselves as mothers; the impact illness can have on mother-child relationships; and the sources of support available to women in illness. The storytelling methodology and theatre metaphor revealed the way women justified their performances, re-wrote the motherhood script and re-cast themselves into the role of the 'good' mother despite facing the adversity of illness. Findings from this study suggest that health professionals have a major role to play in reducing women's distress over how they perform as mothers during illness. Health professionals are in a position to empower women and facilitate their mothering of their children, help them identify sources of support and contribute to deconstructing the myth of the perfect mother.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	English