Exploring the concepts of intended, planned, and wanted pregnancy

BACKGROUND. A variety of terms have been used to define the intention statu s of pregnancies. The purpose of this study was to explore how women relate to these terms and how they define the intention status of their pregnanci es. Improved understanding of how women use these terms may enhance communi cation between physicians, patients, and families. METHODS. This qualitative study used in-depth semistructured interviews to explore how women defined the intention status of current, past, and hypoth etical pregnancies. Eighteen women who were seeking prenatal care, elective abortion, or pregnancy testing were interviewed. Most of the subjects were interviewed in the first trimester of a current pregnancy. Four researcher s independently reviewed the interview transcripts and summarized the point s made by each subject. RESULTS. Three major themes emerged from the interviews: (1) definitions of terms related to pregnancy varied substantially among women and seemed to be highly correlated to social and cultural influences; (2) the concepts of wanted and unwanted pregnancy were qualitatively distinct from the concept s of planned and unplanned pregnancies and seemed to be more relevant to th e decision to continue or abort the pregnancy; and (3) attitudes of the mal e partners toward the pregnancies were very influential in how women define d their pregnancies. CONCLUSIONS. Physicians should explore the attitudes and circumstances of p regnant women, rather than focusing on whether the pregnancy was planned. S upport from the significant other and the woman's underlying values about p arenthood seem to be of particular importance. Our results also suggest tha t further studies are needed to determine the best method for measuring the intention status of pregnancy for research and policy.