Painful Dream of Motherhood: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of Married Women with Ectopic Pregnancy in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

AbstractEctopic pregnancy (EP) is a significant cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to explore the understanding and experience of women with EP in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This qualitative study carried out through a Heideggerian hermeneutic/interpretative phenomenological approach, using face-to-face semi-structured phenomenological interviews with twenty-five participants referred to a public maternity hospital in Rasht, Iran. Data were collected and analyzed using the seven-step analytical approach of Dickelman et al. (The NLN criteria of appraisal of baccalaureate programs: A critical hermeneutic analysis, NLN Press, 1989; Journal of Nursing Education. 32:245–250, 1993) to phenomenological studies. The results reveal how living in the shadow of Islamic Sharia Law in Iran turns EP into a trauma and creates a different experience and meaning of EP for each woman. In this view, multiple factors, including ‘family support’ and ‘faith in Islamic Sharia,’ have determined how married women experience sociocultural and psychological consequences of EP. These findings apply to women with EP in Iran. Given that EP is more than an anomalous pregnancy with socially culturally constructed suffering in the context of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Hence, policymakers and healthcare providers should consider a multidimensional approach to this devastating event in pregnancy and support and empower the women whose dream of motherhood is jeopardized and terminated by the experience of EP.