Pregnancy Experiences of Women With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Pregnancy care for women with IDD often fails — train your clinical staff and design accessible services to reduce adverse outcomes.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Udhnani et al. (2025) talked with 16 mothers who have intellectual or developmental disabilities.
The moms shared stories about every step of pregnancy care, from the first visit to the delivery room.
Researchers wrote down the barriers the women met so clinicians could see the system through the mothers’ eyes.
What they found
The women hit the same walls again and again: forms they could not read, doctors who spoke too fast, and staff who doubted they could parent.
No single clinic fixed these problems, so the mothers felt stress on top of regular pregnancy worries.
How this fits with other research
Ohan et al. (2015) already counted the damage: women with IDD stay longer in hospital, have more C-sections, and face higher risk of pre-term birth.
Udhnani et al. (2025) now show why those numbers happen — the system shuts these women out at every turn.
Baixauli et al. (2019) add another layer: Black and Hispanic women with IDD lose babies at twice the rate of White women with IDD and pay thousands more for delivery.
Together the three papers draw a clear line: poor outcomes start with poor access, and racism makes the gap wider.
Why it matters
If you supervise clinics, train front-desk and nursing staff to use plain language, easy-read forms, and extra time at visits.
Add a pre-visit phone call to explain what will happen and who can come for support.
Small fixes like these can cut no-shows, lower stress, and may trim the high C-section and stillbirth rates the earlier studies captured.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Today women with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are more likely than ever to live in the community and are increasingly likely to give birth. However, they are at increased risk of adverse maternal and infant outcomes. This qualitative study explored pregnancy care experiences of women with IDD. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2016-2017 with 16 mothers with IDD from the United States (analysis in 2020-2022). A content analysis approach revealed that perinatal care; social and economic factors; psychosocial factors; and environmental factors impacted pregnancy experiences. Some participants reported exceptional care. This study centers the voices and experiences of women with IDD in the United States. Findings demonstrate a need to improve care through clinician training and to develop accessible programs and services.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-63.2.149