Perceptions of health and self-care in low-income Euro-American women

Women bear primary responsibility for family health and child-rearing, which may affect their own health, health care-seeking, and self-care practice. Researchers used Pender's Health Promotion model as a theoretical base for examining ten low-income Euro-American women's perceptions of their health, wellness, and self-care practices. This exploratory study used a standardized interview guide to collect narrative data from a non-random sample meeting study criteria (mothers, 25-44 years of age, clients at the study site, English-speaking, of Euro-American [non-Hispanic] heritage). The study was approved by participating institutions; patient rights and confidentiality were safeguarded. Interviews were tape recorded, then transcribed verbatim. Narrative data were analyzed using Miles' and Huberman's qualitative research analysis methods. Most participants were employed, not married, and born in the US; most had 12+ years of education; participants had 1-3 children. Though participants described several roles, the most frequently described was mother. Nine participants described family well-being as affected when the mother felt ill/unwell. Most described self-care activities for health and when ill/unwell, but 7 identified barriers to self-care and most did not identify a support person who could step in to assist. Though results study cannot be generalized, this group of low-income women appear to value their role as mother but also face role strain and have limited resources to facilitate their health and self-care practices, even when ill or unwell. Results may provide better understanding of participants' self-care decision-making and may be useful to designing appropriate clinical health promotion interventions.