Chapter 6 124 alongside expectations, future imaginaries, and future narratives, termed the “Shadow of the future.” This framework captures decision-making processes by including these elements. The aim of this qualitative study was to delve into the family planning experiences of women with psychiatric disorders (history of psychiatric disorder and/or current diagnosis). The “Narrative Framework” will provide a foundation for structuring the themes involved in the decision-making process30. The results of this study will contribute to knowledge about family planning decision-making in women with psychiatric disorders. Materials and methods Study design A qualitative study of experiences with family planning in women with self-reported psychiatric disorder(s) was conducted. We adopted a constructionist approach in which we acknowledged the role of society in shaping perspectives on family planning decision-making30. Therefore, focus group discussions were selected as the method of data collection because participants themselves can represent societal influences on each other’s perspectives. Participant recruitment Seventeen volunteers of the Dutch mental health umbrella organization MIND with selfreported psychiatric disorders were included. Participants were recruited from a sample of survey respondents ( n=378) from MIND5. The survey was conducted to collect quantitative and qualitative information about family planning. Participants were given the option to provide their email address if they wished to participate in a focus group discussion. Both men and women participated in the survey, but to address the current research question, only women were eligible ( n=17). Prior to participating in the focus groups, and after explanation of the study, all participants signed an informed consent form. Focus group discussion 1 ( n=3) consisted of women with a history of (initially) unintended pregnancies. Women who experienced an unintended pregnancy but did not remain pregnant (due to miscarriage or abortion) also participated in focus group discussion 1. Focus group discussion 2 ( n=5) consisted of women who did not have children and who had not been pregnant prior to participation. Focus group discussion 3 ( n=9) consisted of women with a history of intended pregnancies resulting in one or more children. Purposeful sampling created
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw