Social support in the perinatal period: a feminist exploration of asylum seeker and refugee women’s experiences and suggestions for change

Abstract

Asylum seeking and refugee women in the UK face significant challenges to their perinatal wellbeing, with high levels of maternal mortality and morbidity experiencing multiple disadvantages and inequalities due to their immigration status, gender, migration experience and minoritised ethnic status. These women can lack social support and improving the level of social support available to women who experience multiple disadvantages can be a way of improving their perinatal experiences and wellbeing. There are, however, currently no studies which explore this in the context of asylum seeking and refugee women in the UK.

A feminist-informed study was undertaken aiming to explore asylum seeker and refugee women’s experiences of social support in the perinatal period and their suggestions for change. A critical interpretative synthesis was undertaken to explore existing literature on perinatal social support for asylum seeking and refugee women in a European context. From this, two empirical studies, underpinned by feminist social constructionist epistemology were undertaken to explore asylum seeking and refugee women’s experiences of perinatal social support in the UK and the ways they felt this support could be improved. Women with lived experience, and staff and volunteers who supported them, were interviewed using feminist semi-structured interviews (n=22), then for study 2, four focus groups, including a member checking group (n=11) were undertaken.

Findings from the studies identified key issues around needing social support to access statutory services and overcome challenges to meet basic needs. The role and nature of networks of support were discussed, getting support right to meet women’s needs, and who provides support and how. Midwives were considered central to provide support and knowledge and communication. These results fit with the ethics of care, placing women’s experiences within the socio-political context of the immigration system and current healthcare provision, focusing on ideas of the careless state, the voluntary sector and the creation of caring communities, systemic carelessness in maternity care, promiscuous care and gender and care.

The research marks a unique contribution to knowledge being the first study, using a feminist-informed approach, to explore UK based asylum seeking and refugee women’s experiences and perceptions of social support and their suggestions for change.