Browsing by Subject "jännitteet"

A lot of previous research on the meaning of food already exists. However, the meaning of food when pregnant has been studied very and therefore the purpose of this study was to fill this gap. Previous studies have shown that today’s consumers are not able to avoid making choices in relation to the food they consume but instead encounters them every day. Food choices on the other hand create tensions between the consumer and consumption when trying to integrate cultural and social pressures and standards with their own freedom of choice. The chosen and unselected foods in turn reflect the meanings that food receives and expresses. The aim of the study is to unravel the meanings of food while pregnant and to examine the tensions behind it using the binary categories developed by Mäkelä (2002). Also other studies concerning the binary categories are used. The study was carried out as a qualitative study using the narrative approach. The research data were collected from pregnant and within a year pregnant people during summer 2022 using the University of Helsinki’s e-form. The study invitation to write was distributed on Facebook in private Baby Groups and among those close to the researcher. The final data of the study consisted of 27 narratives from 19 to 42 years old respondents. The data were analysed by using a directed content analysis, utilizing in particular the conceptualization of Mäkelä's (2002) binary categories. As a result of the study, seven main meaning classes were formed to describe the meanings of food during pregnancy: food as discipline, food as a risk and threat, food as nourishment, food as identity and ideologies, food as a source of sensations and feelings, food as social relations and food as a source of health and well-being. In addition, the main meaning classes were divided into 17 additional upper meaning classes. Especially during pregnancy, food recommendations and restrictions, which appeared to be clearly shared norms, seemed to have an impact on the meanings of food. A distinct link behind the meanings of food to tensions was found. Based on these meanings of food, pregnant women find the healthy development of the fetus very important and therefore the binary categories concerning health and danger were highlighted in the narratives. It would be important to provide support from health care and from close ones so the pregnant mother would not be left alone with encountered tensions but would rather be able to enjoy the social side of food in addition to the child growing in the womb.