Women's experiences of hospitalisation with hypertension during pregnancy: feeling a fraud

Objective: To document women's experiences of admission to hospital with a pregnancy-related complication, hypertension, from their own perspective. Methods: Qualitative descriptive study. The views of 12 women admitted to hospital with hypertension were obtained through semi-structured interviews. Issues explored included understanding of the condition, information needs, expectations and beliefs. Results: Women were searching for an explanation to help make sense of their situation. Some women were faced with the paradox of being admitted to hospital (thus indicating a problem) in the absence of any symptoms, such as swelling. This resulted in women feeling that they were frauds and not deserving of a hospital bed. Some women also felt that bed rest and medication could be done at home particularly as they 'felt fine'. Women experienced a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows depending upon the latest information given to them by staff particularly concerning likely discharge date. Upward and downward social comparisons were evident as women observed others being delivered of a healthy baby or lacking adequate support. Most women had satisfactory social support form husbands/partners and family. Conclusions: Women could be assisted in their search for meaning by affirmation concerning their status as worthy of hospital care, provision of consistent information, and satisfactory social support.