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Abstract

This project examines discourses and interactions around childbirth in the diverse setting of the city of Antwerp. Giving birth is not just a clinical event; it is also a socio-cultural phenomenon, as shaped by and reflected in how we talk about it. This social and discursive component can have a tangible impact on whether birthing people have a positive or negative birth experience. It therefore is important to unearth how birth is spoken about in society, in participants' communities and networks, and in birth care consultations, and how sociocultural understandings of pregnancy, birth, birth care, and parenthood come into play in these settings. A linguistic ethnographic approach can provide a better understanding of the larger set of norms and assumptions discursively constructed around childbirth, and which actors participate in producing this discourse. This project will therefore observe and interview a group of first-time pregnant people, and examine the multiple and potentially contradictory discursive constructions of birth and birth care they encounter and produce. These observations will more specifically consist of research interviews before and after birth; observations of prenatal clinical and non-clinical interactions befoer and after birth; and observations of interactions during birth. These will be analysed using several qualitative methods, such as discourse analysis, interaction analysis, and qualitative coding. As this project has significant societal relevance, it aims to do wider disseminations of the findings, and recommendations for practice will be formulated.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Declercq Jana
• Fellow: Van Dam Yoni

Research team(s)

• Grammar and Pragmatics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project examines the discursive construction of perspectives on the body in chronic pain discourses in a pain clinic. Research from biomedicine, sociology and philosophy shows that the current, dominant socio-cultural perspective on human existence and illness presumes that mind and body function independently. This perspective is called mind-body dualism. However, there is increasing evidence from these fields that the body must be understood as an interplay of physical, psychological, and sociocultural aspects; the so-called biopsychosocial perspective. This perspective sees psychological and sociocultural aspects -what we understand as the mind- all as part of the body, rather than standing next to it. This biopsychosocial perspective is fundamentally incompatible with mind-body dualism. This is especially pervasive for chronic pain, as chronic pain often does not have a (purely) physical cause, and because chronic pain patients benefit from treatment focusing on psychosocial aspects. Consequently, the biopsychosocial perspective currently is the gold standard for treating chronic pain. Although these perspectives are conflicting in theory, little is known about how biopsychosocial perspectives on the body co-exist or clash with the socio-culturally dominant perspective of mind-body dualism in health care settings, especially in contexts in which the biopsychosocial model has been adopted as the standard for treatment. With an innovative transdisciplinary approach, I examine perspectives on the body in chronic pain consultations in a pain clinic. I explore them as dynamic discursive constructions, and look into how they clash and are negotiated and resisted in interaction. Such linguistic analyses unearth a more in-depth understanding of how they emerge in all its complexity in practice, and offers crucial insights into health professional-patient communication. These will serve as a basis for developing knowledge utilization materials to better understand and aid communication with chronic pain patients in health care settings, such as workshops for health professionals.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Declercq Jana

Research team(s)

• Grammar and Pragmatics

Project type(s)

• Research Project