Between blame and care: women's 'needs talk' about obesity interventions in prenatal care.

Pregnant women's weight is no longer a private life situation, but a public health issue. In western prenatal care policies, pregnant women with a high body mass index (BMI) are targeted as a high-risk group in need of extra prenatal care to prevent pregnancy complications and childhood obesity. Recent studies argue that such targeting leads to a number of unintended negative consequences for women such as stigmatisation and mother blame.

Being targeted as a "severely overweight pregnant woman" -A qualitative interview study.

Background: Pregnant women with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m have been targeted in health-care systems in many western countries as a high-risk group. However, we have limited knowledge of the long-term significance of this prenatal care policy.

Objective: To investigate accounts women give of their experiences of being targeted as severely overweight during pregnancy when they look back at the intervention 4-5 years later.