Historical perspectives: a snapshot of women admitted to psychiatric facilities with psychosis or mania after childbirth in the late Victorian and inter‐war periods

Jefferies, Diana; Duff, Margaret; Burns, Elaine; Nicholls, Daniel

doi:10.1111/jan.12761

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The first of these is the family history of writer and performer Lisa Brickell, a kind of history that was passed down orally through four generations of women who faced mental ill health after childbirth, and which tells of their experiences during admission to mental health facilities. The second kind of source is comprised of historical healthcare records of women with a diagnosis of psychosis or mania after childbirth who were admitted to either of two Sydney mental health facilities from 1885 to 1955 (Jefferies et al 2015(Jefferies et al , 2018. Jefferies is intimately acquainted with these records, and Lisa Brickell worked closely with Jefferies in order to draw upon them properly and to help maintain the play's historical accuracy.…”

Section: Putting Empathy Narratives To Use In Childcare and Healthcarementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Jefferies is intimately acquainted with these records, and Lisa Brickell worked closely with Jefferies in order to draw upon them properly and to help maintain the play's historical accuracy. As Jefferies (2015) analysis of the records had demonstrated, the most common symptom attributed to the women was an inability to express themselves. When the women describe their difficulties in their marriage or at home, their words were often taken to be symptoms of their illness.…”

Section: Putting Empathy Narratives To Use In Childcare and Healthcarementioning

confidence: 99%

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Empathy and Narrative: A Discussion of Contemporary Stories from Childcare and Healthcare

Burgess¹,

Rogers²,

Jefferies³

2022

iejee

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In caring professions, such as childcare and healthcare, empathy and narrative underpin important aspects of the emotional work of early childhood educators and nurses (Rogers, Jefferies & Ng, 2022). Unfortunately, they are not given much attention in scholarly articles, but it is important for practitioners to understand them (Barton & Garvis, 2019). This cross-disciplinary paper discusses the virtue of empathy from a philosophical stance, and its relationship to narrative when building shared understandings. There is a sense in which empathy and narrative are interdependent: storytelling helps to cultivate empathy in others, and empathy can be essential if we are to elicit and understand the stories that others have to tell. In fact, when it comes to eliciting and understanding the kinds of stories that are of particular interest for this paper (i.e., the personal stories to be told by young children participating in a research project, and those of patients in a healthcare setting), empathy tends to be especially important. As we argue, these examples drawn from early childhood education and care and healthcare serve to illustrate certain ways in which empathy, storytelling, and the development of shared understandings can be of deep significance; not only for researchers, educators and healthcare professionals, but also for senior administrative and public policy officials.

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Section: Putting Empathy Narratives To Use In Childcare and Healthcarementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Putting Empathy Narratives To Use In Childcare and Healthcarementioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy and Narrative: A Discussion of Contemporary Stories from Childcare and Healthcare

Burgess¹,

Rogers²,

Jefferies³

2022

iejee

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The analysis of records from 1885 to 1895 (n = 79) and from 1925 to 1935 (n = 76) demonstrated that 11% of women died, and often this occurred within 1 week of admission. A textual analysis revealed that often the women were experiencing delirium caused by complications, such as infection occurring during childbirth or in the postnatal period (Jefferies et al 2015). As both periods predated the introduction of antibiotics, there was little treatment available for these infections (Cossart 2014).…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A textual analysis revealed that often the women were experiencing delirium caused by complications, such as infection occurring during childbirth or in the postnatal period (Jefferies et al . ). As both periods predated the introduction of antibiotics, there was little treatment available for these infections (Cossart ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Understanding the experience of women admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Sydney with psychosis or mania following childbirth after World War II (1945–1955)

Jefferies

Duff

Nicholls

2017

Int J Mental Health Nurs

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In the present study, we investigated a unique set of historical health-care records of women admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Sydney, Australia with a diagnosis of psychosis or mania after childbirth in the post-World War II (WWII) period, from 1945 to 1955. This research is part of a larger project examining how the descriptions of these women documented in the health-care records from 1885 to 1975 affected their treatment and the outcome of their admission. In the present paper, we report on the findings from an intensive examination of the post WWII documents. Eighteen health-care records from a psychiatric facility (Gladesville Hospital) were identified from admission registers housed in the State Records Office of New South Wales in 2014. Although seven records had been destroyed, 11 were transcribed verbatim. The records contain demographic information; descriptions of the women's signs and symptoms on admission; and information about the women before, during, and after their admission found in letters from relatives or medical staff. A content analysis of admission information showed how the women were described by health-care professionals, but a textual analysis of the records revealed that there were other factors that could have contributed to the women's condition, which might not have been taken into consideration when treatment and care were devised. The present study demonstrates the value of investigating historical health-care records to understand how prevailing attitudes and practices might affect diagnosis and treatment.

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Historical perspectives: a snapshot of women admitted to psychiatric facilities with psychosis or mania after childbirth in the late Victorian and inter‐war periods

Abstract: Historical investigations of healthcare records provide legitimacy for current healthcare practices.

Cited by 2 publications

References 45 publications

Empathy and Narrative: A Discussion of Contemporary Stories from Childcare and Healthcare

Empathy and Narrative: A Discussion of Contemporary Stories from Childcare and Healthcare

Understanding the experience of women admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Sydney with psychosis or mania following childbirth after World War II (1945–1955)

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