Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
arts and humanities
"These are not good things for other people to know": How rural Tanzanian women's experiences of pregnancy loss and early neonatal death may impact survey data quality
Social Science and Medicine, Volume 71, No. 10, Year 2010
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
Little research in low-income countries has compared the social and cultural ramifications of loss in childbearing, yet the social experience of pregnancy loss and early neonatal death may affect demographers' ability to measure their incidence. Ninety-five qualitative reproductive narratives were collected from 50 women in rural southern Tanzania who had recently suffered infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth or early neonatal death. An additional 31 interviews with new mothers and female elders were used to assess childbearing norms and social consequences of loss in childbearing. We found that like pregnancy, stillbirth and early neonatal death are hidden because they heighten women's vulnerability to social and physical harm, and women's discourse and behaviors are under strong social control. To protect themselves from sorcery, spiritual interference, and gossip-as well as stigma should a spontaneous loss be viewed as an induced abortion-women conceal pregnancies and are advised not to mourn or grieve for " immature" (late-term) losses. Twelve of 30 respondents with pregnancy losses had been accused of inducing an abortion; 3 of these had been subsequently divorced. Incommensurability between Western biomedical and local categories of reproductive loss also complicates measurement of losses. Similar gender inequalities and understandings of pregnancy and reproductive loss in other low-resource settings likely result in underreporting of these losses elsewhere. Cultural, terminological, and methodological factors that contribute to inaccurate measurement of stillbirth and early neonatal death must be considered in designing surveys and other research methods to measure pregnancy, stillbirth, and other sensitive reproductive events. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Haws, Rachel
Unknown Affiliation
Mashasi, Irene
Unknown Affiliation
Mrisho, Mwifadhi
Unknown Affiliation
Schellenberg, Joanna Armstrong
Unknown Affiliation
Darmstadt, Gary L.
Unknown Affiliation
Winch, Peter J.
Unknown Affiliation
Statistics
Citations: 127
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 5
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.03.051
ISSN:
02779536
Research Areas
Maternal And Child Health
Sexual And Reproductive Health
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Cohort Study
Study Approach
Qualitative
Quantitative
Study Locations
Tanzania
Participants Gender
Female