Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

What Might Have Been: The Communication Of Social Support And Women's Post-Miscarriage Narrative Reconstruction, Jennifer Fairchild

Jennifer Fairchild Ph.D.

This dissertation explores the ways in which miscarriage survivors construct their stories of pregnancy and the subsequent miscarriage. Although some research has examined illness narratives, women's miscarriage narratives have not received enough attention. An examination of miscarriage narratives is warranted because miscarriage has significant physical and psychosocial implications-effects that are often related to stigma and threats to individual identity. Narrative can be utilized to cope with the stigma of miscarriage, challenges to the woman's identity after a miscarriage, and altered relationships after the fact. Researchers have devoted considerable energy to considering the ways that serious illness alters people and necessitates …