Case Study 2:
The Rossi Family
The case
Margherita is 33 and she and her partner have been in the UK for 18 months. Margherita is 6 months pregnant with her first child. Her partner, Simone, works long hours, as does Margherita.
Margherita’s pregnancy is going well and she is in excellent health, but she is increasingly anxious about the fact that she hasn’t seen a consultant during her pregnancy. She has had one appointment with a GP to confirm the pregnancy, a ‘booking appointment’ with a midwife, and an ultrasound scan at 12 weeks and 20 weeks.
She has also learnt from other women that the birth will not be attended by a consultant unless there are any problems with the birth and, otherwise, it will be a midwife that will deliver her baby.
Additional information
The Rossi family are from Italy
The woman: Margherita is 33 and 6 months pregnant.
The man: Simone is 38.
Both speak good English.
Additional information from people involved in the case
Margherita: "I don't have any control over my tests. I don't understand why I cannot have more checking. Additionally, in my country I have my doctor visiting me and in here I don't even speak with any gynaecologist."
Simone: "It makes me so crazy worried. What if there is something wrong with the baby. In our country, Margherita would be seeing her gynaecologist at least every month. The nurses are not enough."
Margherita: "I am also worried about what it is going to happen after my baby is born. My family is not here to help me and I am looking for a paediatrician but I cannot find one."
Reflecting on 'working with people from different national and cultural backgrounds': Using the case study
N.B: Case studies can be used by an individual, or to facilitate a group exercise for a team of practitioners.
Read the case study and write down:
How you would come into contact with the family, or members of the family, in your professional role.
Your immediate thoughts about Margherita and Simone's concerns about the ante-natal care they are receiving in the UK.
Then consider:
If there is anything about the family’s national and cultural background that might have influenced their responses.
If and how your initial thoughts about the family’s response to issues raised were influenced by your own cultural and national background.
Reconsider how you might approach the situation with your responses to questions 1 & 2 in mind.
Links to other themes
The focus of this exercise is to explore how a person's national and cultural background can impact on practitioners, and the families they support, having a shared understanding of services available and why they are provided.
Each case study is also likely to prompt reflections related to the other themes considered on this website. The themes that may be of particular use for this case study are: