Pregnancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Communicated Narrative Sense-Making and Resilience.

Grounded in communicated narrative sense-making (CNSM) theory and communication theory of resilience (CTR), the current study investigated how women narratively constructed resilience surrounding pregnancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the adverse effects of stress on pregnant individuals and their babies, it is important to understand the triggers and process of resilience in this context. We interviewed 21 cisgender women who were pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic to solicit their stories of stress and resilience. Findings revealed that pregnant women managed structural, informational, and interpersonal stressors unique to the COVID-19 pandemic. They engaged in re-storying to reconcile the gap between their expected pregnancy, fueled by the U.S. master narrative of pregnancy and birth, and their lived pregnancy during a pandemic. Participants demonstrated narrative resilience through reconnecting, reframing, and recentering. These findings advance theorizing in communicated resilience by centering CNSM as the sense-making process of enacting resilience and recognizing the importance and burden of resilience during pregnancy. Practical applications are explored such as contributing to narrative-informed programming, interventions, and education efforts regarding future health crises.

Memorable Messages Embedded in Men's Stories of Miscarriage: Extending Communicated Narrative Sense-Making and Memorable Message Theorizing.

Miscarriage occurs in roughly one in five pregnancies in the United States. Although it is largely considered a "women's issue," non-miscarrying spouses also endure the mental and relational health effects of the loss. Drawing on communicated narrative sense-making (CNSM) theory, we interviewed heterosexual, cisgender, mostly white, married men (n = 45) to solicit their stories of their spouse's miscarriage. Six types of memorable messages (i.e., messages that affect the values, behaviors and/or beliefs of the receiver) from social network members emerged - have faith, brush it off, this (pain) is your fault, silence, I'm so sorry, and this happens a lot. These messages illuminate the importance of context in memorable message meaning-making; highlight the complexity of "message gaps" in narratively processing difficulty; and uncover ethical issues with attending to men's experiences with miscarriage. We explore how these findings inform memorable messages theorizing and research.