IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v367y2025ics0277953625001157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Risk and decision-making: Communication between health professionals and pregnant women at risk of preeclampsia in Catalonia

Author

Listed:
  • Lichtsztejn, Mariana Campos
  • Closas, Anna Molas
  • Pujol-Tarrés, Joan

Abstract

The biomedical model of attention focuses on preventive risk assessment to mitigate the apparition of future diseases. In the event of a pregnancy classified “at risk” of preeclampsia, screening undertaken in first-term ultrasound controls determines which patients receive preventive treatment. This article examines women's narratives on the communication dynamics with health professionals by drawing on an eight-month ethnographic fieldwork, between 2022 and 2023, in a Barcelona hospital's obstetrics department and 24 semi-structured interviews with women in the postpartum period. The participants of this study had been classified at high risk of developing preeclampsia, which is determined through a screening undertaken during the first trimester of pregnancy, or had a diagnosis of preeclampsia. The results suggest that risk classification significantly impacts the decision-making process and the technical parameters. As we contend, participants experienced difficulties receiving quality information and communicating with professionals, making shared decision-making challenging. As we conclude, doctor-patient dialogue and shared decisions are increasingly replaced by institutional protocols where patients feel their knowledge and experiences have little room.

Suggested Citation

  • Lichtsztejn, Mariana Campos & Closas, Anna Molas & Pujol-Tarrés, Joan, 2025. "Risk and decision-making: Communication between health professionals and pregnant women at risk of preeclampsia in Catalonia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 367(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:367:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625001157
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117786
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625001157
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117786?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bessett, Danielle, 2010. "Negotiating normalization: The perils of producing pregnancy symptoms in prenatal care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 370-377, July.
    2. Dy, Sydney M. & Purnell, Tanjala S., 2012. "Key concepts relevant to quality of complex and shared decision-making in health care: A literature review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(4), pages 582-587.
    3. Hammer, Raphaël P. & Burton-Jeangros, Claudine, 2013. "Tensions around risks in pregnancy: A typology of women's experiences of surveillance medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 55-63.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hyojung Tak & Gregory Ruhnke & Ya-Chen Shih, 2015. "The Association between Patient-Centered Attributes of Care and Patient Satisfaction," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 8(2), pages 187-197, April.
    2. repec:plo:pone00:0201699 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Timmermans, Stefan & Tietbohl, Caroline, 2018. "Fifty years of sociological leadership at Social Science and Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 209-215.
    4. Hammer, Raphaël P. & Burton-Jeangros, Claudine, 2013. "Tensions around risks in pregnancy: A typology of women's experiences of surveillance medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 55-63.
    5. Hernandez, Elaine M. & Calarco, Jessica McCrory, 2021. "Health decisions amidst controversy: Prenatal alcohol consumption and the unequal experience of influence and control in networks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    6. Kae-Hwa Jo & Gyeong-Ju An & Hong Seon Lee, 2015. "Health Care Professional Factors Influencing Shared Medical Decision Making in Korea," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(4), pages 21582440156, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:367:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625001157. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.