«Precious pregnancy»: The bodily and emotional perceptions of pregnant women through a qualitative study of their drawings
Abstract
In this work a clinical experience using the drawings on the bodily and emotional perceptions during pregnancy is presented. These drawings have been produced by pregnant women attending the Preparation to Birth Courses in a Family Planning Service of Rome. Starting from a screening of over 200 drawings collected during two years, a qualitative comparison has been made among the drawings of those pregnant women not having, to the anamnesis, previous problem pregnancy, and the drawings of those pregnant women whose pregnancy arrived after a series of difficulty (repeated abortions and/or fertility treatments). Our discussion focuses on the importance to gather some indicators of disease about the bodily and emotional perceptions during pregnancy, with the aim to plan specific clinical interventions supporting the transition to parenthood.