Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Emergence of Preconception Care: 1980-2010

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SES-1029087Peter ConradMiranda WaggonerBrandeis UniversityThis study examines the emergence, trajectory, and social implications of preconception care within the maternal and child health field since the 1980s, the decade in which the concept found traction in the American health arena. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) identifies preconception care as a critical public health measure and defines it as a set of strategies that target adverse pregnancy outcomes not preventable by prenatal interventions. Preconception health strategies signal a potential reformulation and reorganization of medical knowledge and medical categories related to reproduction and women?s health services. This dissertation addresses the questions of how and why preconception health strategies emerged when they did, how medical jurisdiction was characterized in the construction of the preconception care agenda, and how preconception care shifts and shapes social meanings of medical intervention, women?s bodies, and medical risk. To answer these questions, in-depth interviews will be conducted with a purposive sample of maternal and child health professionals involved in select expert panels on preconception care. Additionally, archival data, documents, and literature on preconception care will be analyzed. This approach will elucidate the process by which a particular health strategy emerges over time and its significance for medicalization theory, occupational boundaries, and conceptualizations of women?s reproductive lives.Broader ImpactsThis dissertation will contribute to a better understanding of the changing dynamics of contemporary women?s health care and health policy. It will describe how medical and public health professionals think through the implications of their work for women?s reproductive behaviors, bodies, and social roles. This study's findings will also engage broader social and ethical concerns around policymaking and reproductive care. Finally, by illuminating the potential social impact of preconception strategies that target problems of infant mortality, preterm birth, and low birthweight in the U.S., this work will address preconception health strategies in relation to population health disparities.