This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Radtke, H. L. Articles by Van Mens-Verhulst, J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Radtke, H. L. Articles by Van Mens-Verhulst, J. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Being a Mother and Living with Asthma: An Exploratory Analysis of Discourse

University of Calgary, Canada

Janneke Van Mens-Verhulst

Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Although contemporary scholarship on the psychology of women has recognized the significance of motherhood for women, this positioning has received little attention from researchers interested in women and chronic illness. In this article we begin to fill this gap by exploring the complexity of being a mother when women are chronically ill. We focus on mothers with asthma and, adopting a discursive approach, analyze three interviews with asthmatic mothers using discourse analysis to explore how they negotiate their identities. The women were white, Dutch autochthones, who ranged in age from 31 to 60 years. Two were diagnosed with asthma in early childhood and one was diagnosed at age 40. We argue that being a mother is relevant to how women live with asthma.

Key Words: asthma • chronic illness • discourse analysis • identity • mothering

Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 6, No. 4, 379-391 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/135910530100600402


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?