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Talking about Good Maternity Care in a Multicultural Context: A Discourse Analysis of the Accounts of Midwives and Health Visitors

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The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care

Abstract

This chapter will examine the descriptions of good maternity care that health carers, midwives and health visitors draw on in discussing their work in a multicultura/multiracial context, with different care recipients. The intention here is to consider the possible consequences of these varying discourses. It is argued that the various discourses used by carers allow for different possibilities and in many cases constrain the ways in which good practice is conceptualised. Attention will also be given to accounts provided by a number of Asian mothers describing their experiences of maternity care. It is suggested that the varying notions of good care made use of by carers to inform practice can have negative consequences for the care receivers.

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© 1992 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Marshall, H. (1992). Talking about Good Maternity Care in a Multicultural Context: A Discourse Analysis of the Accounts of Midwives and Health Visitors. In: Nicolson, P., Ussher, J., Campling, J. (eds) The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12028-4_9

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