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Health Promotion International, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1-10, 1989
© Oxford University Press 1989

research-article

The expectant mother as patient: a research study in Italian maternity wards

FRANCA PIZZINI

Department of Sociology, University of Milan Italy This article, a chapter of a study on the social aspects of childbirth (Colombo et al., 1984) follows the expectant mother on her journey through the maternity ward, from admission to release. Three features characterize this journey: medicalization, desexualizazion and deper sonalization. The journey is represented as a drama with a beginning, a climax, and an end, presented in the following scenes.

Prologue: conferring the role of patient;

Scene 1: beginning of medicalization process;
Scene 2: desexualization phase (preparation procedures);
Scene 3: beginning of desexualized, depersonalized and medicalized phase (labour procedures);
Scene 4: climax of depersonalized, desexualized and medicalized phase (delivery procedures);

Epilogue: purification and resexualization (postdelivery procedures and release).

The phases in the unfolding of the drama are defined by the medical procedures employed. The social and anthropological analysis of these procedures set forth in this article is based on direct observation in a number of Italian hospitals.


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