Interview With a Pregnant Woman

The Interviewee and the Nature of the Interview

Mrs. R was a 22 year old Hispanic female who was four months pregnant with her first child. She had been married for two years during which time she and her husband had tried to have a baby but did not succeed until four months ago. The interview with Mrs. R was conducted in her home which was where she said she felt most comfortable answering the questions. It was important to interview Mrs. R. in the most comfortable setting possible because, as pointed out by Weiss (1995), if the interviewee feels comfortable, he or she is more likely to disclose information, even information which the interviewee feels some initial reluctance to state. The interview itself took approximately one-half hour to complete and consisted of a series of open-ended questions about Mrs. R.'s pregnancy experience.

The first series of questions asked of Mrs. R. centered around the nature of the pregnancy (which was definite

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textbook noted the importance of amniocentesis in terms of detecting chromosome conditions (e.g., Down's syndrome), musculoskeletal disorders, and blood and metabolic disorders. Mrs. R. said that she had heard of some women having this done but that her doctor had told her that testing and family background did not really warrant an amneo. Mrs. R. said that there is no history of genetic disorders in her family and she has not even considered having genetic counseling. Drugs, culture, the family situation and stress can all affect a woman's experience of pregnancy as well as both the child's health and her own (Shaffer, 2001). Therefore, several questions of this nature were asked of Mrs. R.. Interview data indicated that Mrs. R had not used any teratogens. She had also not picked her baby's name. Mrs. R. had been told a folktale which stated that unhappy mothers have unhappy babies which frightened her and made her reluctant to allow herself to feel down or upset. Both she and her husband had large families that gave them lots of emotional support and helped them with various things they have to do with respect to the pregnancy. The couple's general home environment was stable and both her spouse and her friends were giving
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1211
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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