Abstract

The increasing population of immigrants in the United States is largely comprised of immigrant women, whose first contact with the health care system is often to seek maternity care. The literature suggests that immigrant women frequently do not receive the same quality of care and satisfactory experiences from maternity care as their native population counterparts. This study described the experience of maternity care from the perspective of immigrant mothers who gave birth in the United States for the first time. A purposive sample of mothers, who were born outside of the United States, and who have given birth to a baby within the past year, were interviewed in person by the researcher. Using an interpretive descriptive design, the data were analyzed for emergent patterns and themes. The three themes that emerged were: perceptions of support, feeling vulnerable, and respecting my cultural preferences. The study's findings hold significance because of their potential to impact the nursing care of this rapidly expanding immigrant population. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge about how immigrant women in the United States perceive their maternity care experiences.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 13423873; ProQuest document ID: 2164321866. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Carole A. Lorup, PhD, RN

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Interpretive Description

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Childbirth, Immigrant Women, Cultural Preferences, Patient Support

Advisor

Anne Krouse

Second Advisor

Esther Brown

Third Advisor

Mary Anne Peters

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

Widener University

Degree Year

2018

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2021-10-12

Full Text of Presentation

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