Ter um filho em tempos de Covid

: um estudo qualitativo sobre a maternidade e as implicações da pandemia por SARS-CoV- 2

Abstract

This exploratory study aims to understand how a group of women experienced motherhood during the COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The lack of information about motherhood experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic motivated this study. Based on a semi-structured script, interviews were conducted with seven participants who were mothers during the pandemic period in Portugal (between march 2020 and june 2021). Subsequently proceededing to a semi-inductive analysis of the data, following a qualitative methodology. The content analysis highlighted as main results: the participants describe what the experience of motherhood is for them making direct or indirect references to covid ; mostly positive aspects were mentioned in relation to the characterization of the experience of motherhood itself; the support provided by the baby's father was referred to as satisfactory, which corroborates what has been written in the literature, and, finally, the support from the informal support network, received by family and friends, was described as innovative, in the sense that new strategies were used to bridge the physical distance, however, the support of the formal network divides the opinion of the interviewees, as one part considers it satisfactory while the other part thinks that it has not lived up to expectations.

Date of Award	11 Oct 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Raul Xavier (Supervisor)