Differences between the perceptions of incarcerated mothers and mothers outside the prison regarding the exercise of maternity

Abstract

The various considerations regarding the exercise of motherhood made "being a mother" a central issue in several studies, which reiterate the different facets of motherhood depending on the context in which it is seen. One of the contexts in which motherhood expresses delicate consequences is the Brazilian prison environment, a scenario of immeasurable vulnerability. In this sense, there are studies on the meanings of motherhood for incarcerated mothers, in addition to countless studies on these meanings for mothers who are located outside the prison environment. However, no studies were found with a comparative analysis between the two groups of meanings. Given the lack of comparative studies, added to the increasing number of women who share the prison environment with their children, this study aims to analyze the perceptions of incarcerated mothers and the perceptions of mothers who are located outside the prison environment regarding the exercise of motherhood, seeking to identify similarities and differences in the mothering process. To this end, 10 mothers whose children are up to 6 months old will participate in the study, 5 of them incarcerated and the other 5 externals to prison. The recruitment of these mothers will be carried out so that the participants are equivalent to each other in terms of sociodemographic variables (age, income, education, self-reported color, and marital status) and the number of children, in order to minimize the effects of these variables on the results found. Remotely, the participants will answer a questionnaire to characterize the participants, a scale to analyze their social support (EPSUS-A), and a semi-structured interview to obtain their perceptions about the exercise of motherhood. The data obtained will be analyzed so that the two groups of mothers are compared.(AU)