Reconsidering Teen Pregnancy as a Public Health “Problem”: A Phenomenological Study of Intentional Teen Pregnancy Through the Experiences and Perspectives of Teen Mothers in Canada
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Authors
Dutton, Sherri
Date
2024-10-04
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Public Health , Teen Pregnancy , Critical Phenomenology , Arts-based Methods
Alternative Title
Abstract
The main objective of this thesis was to explore intentional teen pregnancy in Canada in relation to the field of public health through young mothers’ perspectives and experiences. This thesis consists of four manuscripts, three of which are empirical studies and one that is a conceptual manuscript, as well as an overarching methodology chapter.
The first manuscript is a critical scoping review exploring public health research orientations to intentional teen pregnancy in Canada. Results argue that much of public health research in Canada is focused on biomedical and individualistic discourses related to pregnancy and is limited in terms of methodological diversity and public health action.
The second manuscript assesses public health communications related to perinatal risk for teen and older age pregnancies in Ontario using comparative framing and qualitative content analysis. Results of this study present two differential frames of perinatal risk: risk as part of societal benefit for older age pregnancies and risk as part of societal disadvantage for teenage pregnancies. Analysis highlights how societal values shape public health communications, adding to the growing scholarship within critical health communication research.
The third manuscript uses Bourdieusian analysis to explore the experiences, perceptions, and motivations of young mothers in Ontario. This manuscript shows young mothers to be motivated by the potential transformative and positive impacts of motherhood, while simultaneously facing oppression through racist, classist, gendered, and ageist valuations of capital. Results of this study argues that public health efforts have the potential to uphold or work against the oppression related to teen pregnancy in Canada.
The fourth and final manuscript is a conceptual piece reflecting on my use of a resistance epistemology in public health research. This manuscript argues a resistance epistemology helps to overcome epistemological barriers such as epistemic violence and oppression within teen pregnancy research and adds to the growing scholarship around epistemologies in public health research.
Following these manuscripts is a general discussion where I (re)consider the field of public health related to teen pregnancy within an anti-oppressive lens through pivoting the center of public health practice and reaffirming a social justice approach.