Coping with stress and studies as a pregnant student and new mother

(Left to right) Clarise Pieterse, Mickayla Pieterse, and baby Kai

Young pregnant women in an academic environment such as that of Unisa are susceptible to stressors associated with their pregnancy and the academic demands of their university studies.

 We know very little about the stress and coping mechanisms of young women in tertiary institutions who fall pregnant during their studies and choose to have the baby.  The experiences of pregnant students are multifaceted and may be characterised by financial crises, academic challenges, strained relationships, and transitioning to a new identity as a mother.

On 21 January 2022, Clarise Pieterse reached out to me for help with registering for her studies at Unisa.  She had a question about her academic record and did not know whom she should contact.  She had to register before the registration period closed on Monday, 24 January 2022. 

Clarise is registered for her final year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Education for the Intermediate to Senior Phases.  She had many questions, ranging from why some modules were financially cancelled to registering for her final modules.  Besides feeling anxious about finalising her qualification, she was nearing the full term of her pregnancy (her due date was 4 February).  She tried booking an appointment on the student booking app, but no appointments were available, and she worried about standing in a queue in the heat and humidity so close to her due date.

As a pregnant woman, staff explained that she would not have to stand in the queue, and she could go straight to the security personnel for assistance.  She subsequently went into labour on 25 January and gave birth to a healthy boy on 26 January 2022. During this whole process, she stayed in touch with me but was worried about being unable to complete her studies within the year. Clarise managed to get an appointment for 3 February and went to the Unisa campus in Durban. 

After standing in a long queue and stressing about her new baby and the Durban humidity, she had to leave the queue before being assisted, as she had to get home in time to feed her baby.  She is one of the more fortunate students in that she has her own transport and a very supportive family and partner at home.  However, many of our students don’t have these privileges and support as single moms.

Clarise has lived in Durban her entire life. She and her family are close and have a good relationship with one another. She has a younger sister, Mickayla, who is registered for a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology, at Unisa.  Growing up, her family always supported her in everything she did, whether it was her studies, sport or hobbies. 

She had a few role models while growing up, but from high school onwards she has admired Frida Kahlo, who was an outstanding painter who used themes such as the human body and identity to portray messages about empowering women. Another one of her role models is her father, who always taught her to look for the good in others. He is a great example of someone who has a generous heart and kind nature and he always her sound advice. 

Clarise wanted to study through Unisa so that she could work part-time and study at the same time. Unisa allowed her more flexibility than other universities, but time management was key.  She has managed her studies by always planning when she would work on her assignments, and she diarised the due dates on a calendar. Clarise has always worked and makes sure that she used her evenings and weekends to work on her studies.

She was never interested in education until her first year out of school when she took a gap year. She used that time to volunteer with an NGO to facilitate a reading programme at underprivileged schools and she discovered that she loved working with the children and had a passion for teaching.

Next, she worked for three years at a preschool with learners aged 2-6 years, and last year she started working at a primary school teaching Grades 4-7, which was a completely new experience for her.  She likes the fact that she can study in her own time and still work and accomplish her daily tasks.  What she dislikes about studying at Unisa is that sometimes she finds it difficult to know whom to contact when she needs help. She also misses the social aspect that would normally be available at a regular university.

She said that the advice she would give to new students would be to download their study material electronically straight after registration, draw up a study schedule/plan and write all assignment due dates and examination dates on a calendar. This is preferable to waiting for the hard copies of the study material to arrive, as they are sometimes delivered late, causing students to miss their due dates. Another piece of advice would be to join social media groups to interact with other Unisa students to receive help, advice, and encouragement along the way.

Once she completes her degree, Clarise would like to apply for a full-time teaching position at a primary school and teach Grade 4 or 5, as those are her favourite age groups of learners. If possible, she would even consider teaching Grade 2 or 3, as her experience has shown that she enjoys teaching the younger learners too.  She has even considered taking up a sport and coaching the learners in that sport, as she has always enjoyed sports and trying new things, so this would be a fun new challenge for her.

Clarise said her final month of pregnancy coincided with the registration period at Unisa. She said that she struggled with her mental health during the first few months of her pregnancy because she was finding it a challenge to juggle her personal life, work, studies, and preparing for her first baby. All of this took a toll on her performance in some of her modules last year, with the result that she was disappointed in her results. However, she worked on her mental health and regained her balance.  She did this by trying new things like journaling and expressing her emotions through writing. This helped her get through a very stressful time in her life. She also learned to ask for help and said that this was important because we can’t always get through challenging times alone. 

During her pregnancy, there were difficult times when she would feel exhausted from work but then needed to find the energy to work on her assignments or study for her examinations. She also mixed up an examination date and thus missed an examination, which upset her; but she later saw that as a learning opportunity. She finds that online examinations are a lot more convenient, especially during pregnancy, because you don’t have to travel to the venue and experience the stress of possibly getting sick from being with many other students in the examination venue. She prefers doing online examinations because she feels less anxious when she is in the comfort of her own home.

Overall, she was blessed with a problem-free pregnancy.  She did not experience morning sickness or other illnesses like many other pregnant women have.  She also had a great support system that helped her get through the hard times.

Clarise’s suggestions for other first-time mothers studying at Unisa include joining support groups for pregnant students and new mothers.

Reflecting on this conversation with Clarise, some possibilities come to mind:

1. Support groups could be held on WhatsApp, Zoom, or MS Teams on a weekly or monthly basis.
   1. Regarding the student booking app, pregnant students and new mothers with new-born babies could be offered alternative forms of assistance so that they would not have to go physically to the campus with their new-born babies, since that would make them more susceptible to getting sick (by spending time in public areas). Such alternatives could be

• scheduling a face-to-face appointment at a specific time with a student advisor
• requesting a telephone call
• requesting an online meeting
• uploading a doctor’s note confirming the pregnancy and indicating when the baby is due

1. Perhaps Unisa could provide a similar facility for students with disabilities, 65 years and older, and frontline service personnel from the medical fields and police service.

At Unisa, our vision, “Towards the African university shaping futures in the service of humanity”, defines everything that we do.  It unites our diverse cultures and guides us in our decision-making and planning processes.  Given all the challenges that our students face, we should prioritise humaneness/compassion and collaborate to put systems in place to help our pregnant students and new mothers.  A system that focuses on mental health, health promotion, psychological counselling, academic counselling, and support will help our young women to complete their educational journey at Unisa successfully.

* By Jo Cossavella, Communications Officer, Unisa KwaZulu-Natal Region