Abstract:At the center of critical questions posed about power and health communication are issues of embodiment-whose bodies are judged to be healthy and whose are not, which identities are affirmed and privileged and which are stigmatized and marginalized, which material practices are pathologized and which are lauded. Critical health communication (CHC) research may be enacted by critical-interpretive researchers who employ critical embodiment theorizing frameworks that guide their questions posed, co-construction o… Show more
“…This was followed by the material turn that sought to attend to corporeality and bodily feeling (Clever and Ruberg, 2014). The concept of embodiment usefully attends to these different perspectives as it moves beyond the idea of possessing the body as an object towards the sense of being in a body that is entangled with the world (Ellingson, 2019).…”
In some countries, including the United Kingdom, young mothers’ pregnant and postnatal bodies remain an area of concern for policy and practice, with interventions developed to support improved health behaviours including diet and physical activity. This article explores what young women themselves think and feel about eating and moving during and after pregnancy. Semi-structured interviews with 11 young mothers were conducted within two voluntary organisations. Data were analysed using thematic analysis with the theoretical lens of embodiment, which provided an understanding of how young women’s eating and moving habits related to how they felt about their bodies in the world. Four themes situated in different experiences of being and having a body were identified: pregnant body, emotional body, social body and surveilled body. Stress and low mood impacted eating habits as young women responded to complex circumstances and perceived judgement about their lives. Food choices were influenced by financial constraints and shaped by the spaces and places in which young women lived. Whilst young women were busy moving in their day-to-day lives, they rarely had the resources to take part in other physical activity. Holistic approaches that focus on how women feel about their lives and bodies and ask them where they need support are required from professionals. Interventions that address the structural influences on poor diet and inequalities in physical activity participation are necessary to underpin this. Approaches that over-focus on the achievement of individual health behaviours may fail to improve long-term health and risk reinforcing young women’s disadvantage.
“…This was followed by the material turn that sought to attend to corporeality and bodily feeling (Clever and Ruberg, 2014). The concept of embodiment usefully attends to these different perspectives as it moves beyond the idea of possessing the body as an object towards the sense of being in a body that is entangled with the world (Ellingson, 2019).…”
In some countries, including the United Kingdom, young mothers’ pregnant and postnatal bodies remain an area of concern for policy and practice, with interventions developed to support improved health behaviours including diet and physical activity. This article explores what young women themselves think and feel about eating and moving during and after pregnancy. Semi-structured interviews with 11 young mothers were conducted within two voluntary organisations. Data were analysed using thematic analysis with the theoretical lens of embodiment, which provided an understanding of how young women’s eating and moving habits related to how they felt about their bodies in the world. Four themes situated in different experiences of being and having a body were identified: pregnant body, emotional body, social body and surveilled body. Stress and low mood impacted eating habits as young women responded to complex circumstances and perceived judgement about their lives. Food choices were influenced by financial constraints and shaped by the spaces and places in which young women lived. Whilst young women were busy moving in their day-to-day lives, they rarely had the resources to take part in other physical activity. Holistic approaches that focus on how women feel about their lives and bodies and ask them where they need support are required from professionals. Interventions that address the structural influences on poor diet and inequalities in physical activity participation are necessary to underpin this. Approaches that over-focus on the achievement of individual health behaviours may fail to improve long-term health and risk reinforcing young women’s disadvantage.
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