ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2017
Women's preferences for childbirth experiences in the Republic of Ireland; a mixed methods study.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Discrete Choice Experiment on Women's Preferences for Water Immersion During Labor and Birth: Identification, Refinement and Selection of Attributes and Levels.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Women's experiences of pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain relief methods for labour and childbirth: a qualitative systematic review.Reproductive health · 2019Pooled it
- Mothers' experiences of implementing a normal labor and delivery management program based on evidence-based clinical practice in Iran.Journal of education and health promotion · 2026Article
- Two Pregnancy Care Models in Poland-A Descriptive-Comparative Study.Clinics and practice · 2023Article
- Development and Validity of an Intrapartum Self-Assessment Scale Aimed at Instilling Midwife-Led Care Competencies Used at Freestanding Midwifery Units.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- 'The System is Not Set up for the Benefit of Women': Women's Experiences of Decision-Making During Pregnancy and Birth in Ireland.Qualitative health research · 2022Article
- Birth plan presentation to hospitals and its relation to obstetric outcomes and selected pain relief methods during childbirth.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Article
- Trading patients' choice in providers for quality of maternity care? A discrete choice experiment amongst pregnant women.PloS one · 2020Article
- Exploring women's preferences for birth settings in England: A discrete choice experiment.PloS one · 2019Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHow women experience childbirth is acknowledged as critical to the postnatal wellbeing of mother and baby. However there is a knowledge deficit in identifying the important elements of these experiences in order to enhance care. This study elicits women's preferences for the most important elements of their childbirth experiences.
methodsA mixed methods design was used. An initial qualitative phase (reported previously) was followed by a second quantitative one using a discrete choice experiment (DCE), which is reported on here. Participants who had experienced labour, were over 18 and had a healthy baby were recruited from four randomly selected and one pilot hospital in the Republic of Ireland. Data were collected by means of a DCE survey instrument. Questions were piloted, refined, and then arranged in eight pair-wise scenarios. Women identified their preferences by choosing one scenario over another. Nine hundred and five women were sent the DCE three months after childbirth, with a response rate of 59.3% (N =531).
resultsWomen clearly identified priorities for their childbirth experiences as: the availability of pain relief, partnership with the midwife, and individualised care being the most important attributes. In the context of other choices, women rated decision-making, presence of a consultant, and interventions as less important elements. Comments from open questions provided contextual information about their choices.
conclusionsMost women did not want to be typified as wanting the dichotomy of 'all natural' or 'all technology' births but wanted 'the best of both worlds'. The results suggest that availability of pain relief was the most important element of women's childbirth experiences, and superseded all other elements including partnership with the midwife which was the second most important attribute. The preferences identified might reflect the busy medicalised hospital environments, in which the vast majority of women had given birth, and may differ in settings such as midwifery led care or home births.
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