Julia Frost

Publications (7) View all

• Article: Using meta-ethnography to understand the emotional impact of caring for people with increasing cognitive impairment.

  Jane Grose, Julia Frost, Janet Richardson, Heather Skirton
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  ABSTRACT: The majority of people with degenerative neurological conditions are cared for within their own families. Cognitive impairment can be a significant and increasing symptom of these conditions. In this article we report how a team of experienced researchers carried out a meta-ethnography of qualitative research articles focusing on the impact of caring for a loved one with cognitive impairment. We followed the seven-step process outlined by Noblit and Hare. Synthesized findings from 31 papers suggest emotional impact is complex and uncertain and varies from day to day. The benefit of using meta-ethnography is that the results represent a larger sample size and a reinterpretation of multiple studies can hold greater application for practice. The results of this study offer an opportunity for nurses to be aware of both the positive and negative sides of caring and being cared for. This knowledge can be used to discuss with patients and carers how best to prepare for decreasing cognition and still maintain a worthwhile quality of life.
  Nursing and Health Sciences 01/2013; · 0.68 Impact Factor
• Article: Women's views on the use of decision aids for decision making about the method of delivery following a previous caesarean section: qualitative interview study.

  J Frost, A Shaw, A Montgomery, D J Murphy
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  ABSTRACT: To obtain the views of women on their experiences of decision making about the method of delivery following a previous caesarean section and the role of decision aids in this process. Qualitative study nested within a randomised controlled trial, using repeat semi-structured interviews conducted pre- and postnatally. Data were analysed using a framework approach. Three maternity units in south-west England and Scotland. Purposive sample of 30 women participating in a randomised controlled trial of two decision aids for women making a decision about mode of next delivery following a previous caesarean section (Decision Aids for Mode of next Delivery). Thirty women were interviewed during pregnancy about their experience of decision making about the mode of delivery and 22 were re-interviewed postnatally. Key themes were: role of decision aids in reducing decisional conflict and uncertainty during the pregnancy; impact of decision aids on knowledge and anxiety; the relationship between prior preferences, decisions and actual outcome; and the mediating role of decision aids. Women making a decision about mode of delivery following previous caesarean section value some form of structured information to help reduce decisional conflict. Information provision for women making this decision needs to be relevant to their individual needs. Decision analysis may help reconcile prior preferences and the actual mode of delivery.
  BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 05/2009; 116(7):896-905. · 3.41 Impact Factor
• Article: The loss of possibility: scientisation of death and the special case of early miscarriage.

  Julia Frost, Harriet Bradley, Ruth Levitas, Lindsay Smith, Jo Garcia
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  ABSTRACT: This paper explores the special nature of bereavement in the case of first trimester miscarriage. It is theoretically informed by the sociological literature concerning death and bereavement and is empirically grounded in interviews with 79 women. We argue that the 'scientisation of death' in modern societies contributes to the uncertainty and isolation which distinguish early miscarriage as a unique form of loss. In the absence of clear cultural scripts to draw upon, many women interviewed gave meaning to their loss as 'what might have been' or what we call 'the loss of possibility'. Some women juxtaposed the failure of their pregnancy with that of modern medicine either to prevent the loss or provide a credible explanation for their miscarriage. Little research has been conducted in this area, since the pioneering work of Lovell (1983) and Cecil (1984). Our research draws on one of the largest and most systematic bodies of data ever collected on early miscarriage, and provides continued evidence of the traumas of miscarriage. The strategies employed by women to make sense of, and come to terms with, their experience of miscarriage are explored, employing a typology of pre-modern, modern and postmodern responses.
  Sociology of Health & Illness 12/2007; 29(7):1003-22. · 1.88 Impact Factor
• Article: Women's experiences of three early miscarriage management options: a qualitative study.

  Lindsay F Smith, Julia Frost, Ruth Levitas, Harriet Bradley, Jo Garcia
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  ABSTRACT: Miscarriage affects around one in six pregnancies. Much research has taken place identifying the consequences of this for parents but is mainly quantitative. Of the limited qualitative studies, none have explored women's experiences of the methods of miscarriage management received. To assess the social and personal impact of different management methods (expectant, medical and surgical) on women's experience of first trimester miscarriage. Qualitative interviews using a topic guide with a purposive cohort of four categories of women (each management method plus non-participants) 6 months to 1 year after first trimester miscarriage. Focus groups with both research participants and health workers. Women from three hospitals in the South West of England that participated in the Miscarriage Treatment (MIST) trial. Seventy-two interviews were undertaken between September 1999 and June 2000. There were also five focus groups (47 participants) and two feedback sessions (8 participants) with written feedback from 12 women. Interviews lasted 0.5-2.5 hours generating over 2000 A4 pages of transcripts. The transcripts were analysed for common themes, using standard proformas, which were filled in by individual team members and then discussed by the whole research team. Iterative readings in the light of new emerging issues ensured that new themes could be identified throughout the analytical process. All transcripts were then encoded for the identified themes using NUDIST. Common themes emerged across all management options although some were specific to just one or two management options. The five major themes arising out of the data analysis were: intervention; experiences of care; finality; the 'baby'; and pain and bleeding. Women's experiences and beliefs vary widely and their preferences need to be considered in their early miscarriage management. The three methods have different benefits and problems from the women's point of view. Competence and caring from professionals are especially important.
  British Journal of General Practice 04/2006; 56(524):198-205. · 1.83 Impact Factor
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  Available from: Julia Frost

  Chapter: Older women and early miscarriage: Leaky bodies and boundaries

  Julia Frost
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  ABSTRACT: In this chapter older women’s physical and psychical1 experience of early miscarriage is explored, in the context of theoretical debates on embodiment. I will outline theories of the sociology of the body (Frank, 1991; Turner, 1996), and argue that the gendered and subjective nature of women’s reproductive health has been overlooked. However, a re-reading of classic feminist texts finds that here the body is equally constructed as troublesome (Butler, 1990) and problematic (de Beauvoir, 1997). In contrast, current postmodern feminist research transcends this thinking about women’s bodies - by proposing women’s embodied experiences as having both continuity (Grosz, 1994), and leakiness (Shildrick, 1997). This chapter presents findings from qualitative interviews with 29 women who experienced a first trimester pregnancy loss, and who were over 35 years of age. The interviews were undertaken as part of a doctoral research study. I want to suggest that although notions of uncertainty, both about the process and outcome of a miscarriage, may be distressing, notions of ‘leakiness’ and ‘fluidity’ may at the same time be useful ways of conceptualising aspects of this ‘loss’. In particular, this approach allows for an exploration of miscarriage as a potentially inevitable outcome of some pregnancies. This approach does not denigrate women’s individual experience of pregnancy loss, but suggests that women should be warned about the risks of early miscarriage. It also allows for the incorporation of previous and subsequent reproductive experiences into biographies of women’s reproductive health, such that other reproductive events (births and deaths, menarche and menopause), and the ways in which they may frame an early pregnancy loss, are not overlooked. Finally, this approach demands that care provided to women who are at risk of, or experiencing an early miscarriage, should be women-centred.
  01/2006: pages 299-318;