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- Title
Women's Birth Beliefs During Pregnancy and Postpartum in the Netherlands: A Quantitative Cross‐Sectional Study.
- Authors
Vogels‐Broeke, Maaike; Daemers, Darie; Budé, Luc; de Vries, Raymond; Nieuwenhuijze, Marianne
- Abstract
Introduction: Women and care providers increasingly regard childbirth as a medical process, resulting in high use of medical interventions, which could negatively affect a woman's childbirth experience. Women's birth beliefs may be key to understanding the decisions they make and the acceptance of medical interventions in childbirth. In this study we explore women's beliefs about birth as a natural and medical process and the factors that are associated with women's birth beliefs. Methods: Data were obtained from a cross‐sectional survey of women living in the Netherlands asking them about their experiences during pregnancy and childbirth, including their beliefs about birth as a natural and medical process. Results: A total of 3494 women were included in this study. Mean scores of natural birth beliefs ranged between 3.73 and 4.01 points, and medical birth belief scores ranged between 2.92 and 3.12 points. There were significant but very small changes between prenatal and postnatal birth beliefs. Regression analyses showed that (previous) childbirth experiences were the most consistent predictor of women's birth beliefs. Discussion: Women's high scores on natural birth beliefs and lower scores on medical birth beliefs correspond with the philosophy of Dutch perinatal care that considers pregnancy and childbirth to be natural processes. Perinatal care providers must be aware of women's birth beliefs and recognize that they as professionals influence women's birth beliefs. They make an important contribution to women's perinatal experiences, which affects both women's natural and medical birth beliefs.
- Subjects
NETHERLANDS; CHILDBIRTH; HUMAN research subjects; CROSS-sectional method; PREGNANT women; QUANTITATIVE research; REGRESSION analysis; SURVEYS; INFORMED consent (Medical law); T-test (Statistics); HEALTH attitudes; PUERPERIUM; QUESTIONNAIRES; SCALE analysis (Psychology); DESCRIPTIVE statistics; RESEARCH funding; ATTITUDES toward pregnancy; STATISTICAL correlation; DATA analysis software
- Publication
Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health, 2023, Vol 68, Issue 2, p210
- ISSN
1526-9523
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/jmwh.13473