Ross, E. orcid.org/0000-0002-5165-7649 (2018) Provisionally pregnant: uncertainty and interpretive work in accounts of home pregnancy testing. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 22 (1). pp. 87-105. ISSN 1363-4593
Abstract
Upon their availability for purchase in the 1970s, home pregnancy testing devices were hailed as a ‘revolution’ for women’s reproductive rights. Some authors, however, have described these technologies as further enabling the medicalisation of pregnancy and as contributing to the devaluing of women’s embodied knowledge. The home pregnancy test is one of many technological devices encountered by women experiencing pregnancy in the United Kingdom today. Existing literature has described how engagement with medical technologies during pregnancy might address uncertainties experienced at this time, providing women with reassurance and alleviating anxieties. Drawing on interviews with women living in Scotland, this article explores accounts of testing for a first pregnancy, and women’s descriptions of the impacts of home pregnancy testing upon experiences of early gestation. Participants engaged with pregnancy tests in varying ways, with uses shaping and shaped by their experiences of early pregnancy more broadly. Particular technical characteristics of the home pregnancy test led many participants to question their interpretation of a positive result, as well as the accuracy of the test itself. Rather than addressing the unknowns of early gestation by confirming a suspected pregnancy, a positive result could thus exacerbate uncertainty. Through participants’ accounts, this article shows how uncertainty is lived out by users of mundane techno-medical artefacts and sheds new light on women’s experiences of the first trimester of pregnancy.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: | |
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2017. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | home pregnancy test; pregnancy; qualitative research; technological scripts; uncertainty |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 27 Oct 2020 10:23 |
Last Modified: | 22 Apr 2021 15:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/1363459317739439 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:167231 |
Download
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0