Résumé :
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[BDSP. Notice produite par INIST S30R0xAX. Diffusion soumise à autorisation]. The life course perspective offers a framework for understanding continuity and change in health and health practices. Body weight, and the diet and physical activity strategies used to manage weight in pregnancy and the postpartum period, are a focus of much study because of an association between parity and body weight. The motherhood transition offers an opportunity to study weight concerns and weight management strategies during a period of weight fluctuation that is part of a a life transition for many women. Our aim was to develop an in-depth understanding of women's experiences of pregnancy and postpartum weight changes, the strategies that women used to deal with weight changes, and patterns in their attitudes and strategies across pregnancy and the postpartum period. A longitudinal design, using multiple, in-depth, qualitative interviews with 36 women from pregnancy through the postpartum period, was chosen for data collection. Prepregnancy orientations towards body weight emerged as the primary influence on women's pregnancy and postpartum attitudes towards weight, on patterns of physical activity and diet, and on postpartum weight outcomes among most study participants. Four different trajectories ("relaxed maintenance", "exercise", "determined", and "unhurried"), characterized by differences in women's orientations towards their body weight and their diet and physical activity patterns across pregnancy and the postpartum period, emerged from the data. (...)
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