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Resolving The Uncertainty Of Preterm Symptoms: Women’S Experiences With The Onset Of Preterm Labor, Marianne E. Weiss, Nancy P. Saks, Susan Harris

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: To describe expectant women's experiences with the onset of preterm labor.

Design: Qualitative, using grounded theory methods.

Setting: Southwestern tertiary women's hospital.

Participants: Thirty pregnant women who were less than 35 weeks gestation, had experienced preterm labor within the past 7 days, and had no previous experience with preterm labor.

Data Source: Taped and transcribed interviews.

Results: Themes that emerged from the interview data included the following: recognition and naming of sensations, a consistent pattern of attribution of symptoms, the threat or risk inferred by the attributed cause of the symptom pattern, the associated certainty or uncertainty about these …