Journey for a cure: Illness narratives of obstetric fistula survivors in North Central Nigeria

Author:

Degge Hannah M.1ORCID,Laurenson Mary2,Dumbili Emeka W.3ORCID,Saxby Heidi1,Hayter Mark4

Affiliation:

1. Department of Health and Education Coventry University Scarborough UK

2. Faculty of Health Sciences University of Hull Hull UK

3. School of Sociology University College Dublin College of Social Sciences and Law Dublin Ireland

4. Faculty of Health and Education Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester UK

Abstract

AbstractObstetric fistula is a life transforming event resulting in embodied biographical disruption. Survivors suffer myriad long‐term physical and emotional consequences. This paper is an account of a narrative inquiry, conducted with 15 fistula survivors in North‐central, Nigeria, who described how their identities had been transformed by their condition. A narrative therapeutic approach, using Frank’s ‘chaos, restitution and quest’ typology, was used to map their recovery narratives. ‘Chaos’, described by Frank as the opposite of restitution, dominated, with women losing hope of recovery. Women’s shift towards ‘restitution’ began with treatment, but inadequate health‐care access often delayed this process. In their quest narratives, women’s life and identify changes enabled them to derive meaning from their experience of obstetric fistula within the context of their own lives. The findings highlight socio‐structural factors raising the risk of obstetric fistula, which in turn causes biographical disruption and hampers sufferers’ treatment and recovery. Rehabilitation should include income‐generating skills to bring succour to survivors, particularly those whose incontinence persists after repairs.

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,Health Policy,Health (social science)

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