The Experience of Pregnancy for Women with Bipolar Disorder: An Exploratory Study

Résumé

Background: Bipolar disorder often emerges in an individual’s late teens and early twenties, thus women with bipolar disorder are impacted for the majority of their childbearing years. Pregnancy brings a unique set of challenges to this population, including risk of relapse, teratogenicity of medications, and increased risk of postpartum psychosis, yet no research exists on this population’s experience of pregnancy.

Design: This study utilized semi-structured telephone interviews to gather preliminary qualitative data on the experience of pregnancy for women with bipolar disorder with the long-term goal of developing patient education materials and improving nursing-led interventions to help manage illness during pregnancy and postpartum.

Method: A purposive sample of four English-speaking women, age 29-39, with a confirmed diagnosis of bipolar disorder I or II and who had given birth within the last eighteen months, was recruited nationally via the electronic and mass media, and postings on bulletin boards in a range of educational and related settings. One open-ended focused telephone interview was held with each client, and conducted by the first author. She was also responsible for doing the audiotaping, transcription, and coding of the data using a descriptive qualitative design.

 Results: Women with bipolar disorder described a unique pregnancy experience, influenced by the intersection of mental illness, pregnancy, and pharmacotherapy. Recurrent themes included hopefulness, patient and healthcare provider as advocates, the importance of interdisciplinary care, education, community support and the mixed impact of medication.

Discussion & Conclusion: This research contributes to initiatives designed to improve healthcare for pregnant women with bipolar disorder, augment patient education materials, and inform the design of nurse-led interventions. Empirical research findings become even more valuable tools for improving patient care when paired with the voices of patients themselves. As pregnant women are a historically under-studied population, this study also contributes to the larger body of scientific research on this population.