Women’s and men’s negative experience of child birth—A cross-sectional survey - Women and Birth
Original Research Quantitative| Volume 31, ISSUE 2, P103-109, April 01, 2018
Women’s and men’s negative experience of child birth—A cross-sectional survey
Astrid Nystedt
Department of Nursing, Umeå Universitet, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
Department of Nursing, Mid Sweden University, 85170 Sundsvall, Sweden
Published:August 05, 2017DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2017.07.002
Previous ArticleIntimate partner violence during pregnancy and use of antenatal care among rural women in southern Terai of Nepal
Next ArticleEmotional labour and aboriginal maternal infant care workers: The invisible load
A negative birth experience may influence both women and men and can limit their process of becoming a parent.
This study aimed to analyze and describe women's and men's perceptions and experiences of childbirth.
A cross-sectional study of women and their partners living in one Swedish county were recruited in mid pregnancy and followed up two months after birth. Women (n = 928) and men (n = 818) completed the same questionnaire that investigated new parents’ birth experiences in relation to socio-demographic background and birth related variables.
Women (6%) and men (3%) with a negative birth experiences, experienced longer labours and more often emergency caesarean section compared to women (94%) and men (97%) with a positive birth experience. The obstetric factors that contributed most strongly to a negative birth experience were emergency caesarean and was found in women (OR 4.7, 95% CI 2.0–10.8) and men (OR 4.5, Cl 95% 1.4–17.3). In addition, pain intensity and elective caesarean section were also associated with a negative birth experiences in women. Feelings during birth such as agreeing with the statement; ‘It was a pain to give birth’ were a strong contributing factor for both women and men.
A negative birth experience is associated with obstetric factors such as emergency caesarean section and negative feelings. The content of negative feelings differed between women and men. It is important to take into account that their feelings differ in order to facilitate the processing of the negative birth experience for both partners.
Men’s birth experience
Women’s birth experience
Maimburg R.D.
Væth M.
Women’s experience of childbirth—a five year follow-up of the randomised controlled trial ready for child trial.
The negative birth experience of prolonged labour: a case-referent study.
Radestad I.
A negative birth experience: prevalence and risk factors in a national sample.
Rijnders M.
Buitendijk S.
Looking back on birth three years later: factors associated with a negative appraisal in England and in the Netherlands.
Guittier M.J.
Jamei N.
Impact of mode of delivery on the birth experience in first-time mothers: a qualitative study.
Carquillat P.
Guittier M.-J.
How does delivery method influence factors that contribute to women’s childbirth experiences?.
van der Pal K.
Perinatal factors related to negative or positive recall of birth experience in women 3 years postpartum in the Netherlands.
Diverse definitions of prolonged labour and its consequences with sometimes subsequent inappropriate treatment.
Hasman K.
Kjaergaard H.
Esbensen B.A.
Fathers’ experience of childbirth when non-progressive labour occurs and augmentation is established. A qualitative study.
Sexual Reprod Healthc. 2014; 5: 69-73
Engström Å.
A qualitative study of new fathers’ experiences of care in relation to complicated childbirth.
Sexual Reprod Healthc. 2013; 4: 147-152
Bamford N.
Not-patient and not-visitor: a metasynthesis fathers’ encounters with pregnancy, birth and maternity care.
Cederlöf L.
Widén S.
Fathers’ birth experience in relation to midwifery care.
Longworth M.K.
Furber C.
A narrative review of fathers’ involvement during labour and birth and their influence on decision making.
Oxford University Press, New York; Oxford2002
Some Swedish women’s experiences of prolonged labour.
Rowlands I.J.
Mode of birth and women’s psychological and physical wellbeing in the postnatal period.
DeLuca R.S.
Psychosocial sequelae of cesarean delivery: review and analysis of their causes and implications.
Literature review shows that fathers are still not receiving the support they want and need from Swedish child health professionals.
Acta Paediatr Int J Paediatr. 2016; 105: 1014-1023
Vikström A.
Barimani M.
Partners’ perspective on care-system support before, during and after childbirth in relation to parenting roles.
Sexual Reprod Healthc. 2016; 8: 1-5
Bélanger-Lévesque M.-N.
Roy-Matton N.
Pasquier J.-C.
Maternal and paternal satisfaction in the delivery room: a cross-sectional comparative study.
Xie R.-h.
Higher cesarean delivery rates are associated with higher infant mortality rates in industrialized countries.
Impact of mode of delivery on neonatal complications: trends between 1997 and 2005.
J Maternal-Fetal Neonatal Med. 2009; 22: 491-500
Backstrom C.
Hertfelt Wahn E.
Support during labour: first-time fathers’ descriptions of requested and received support during the birth of their child.
Childbirth—an emotionally demanding experience for fathers.
A meta-ethnographic synthesis of fathers’ experiences of complicated births that are potentially traumatic.
Ryding E.L.
Women’s fear of childbirth and preference for cesarean section—a cross-sectional study at various stages of pregnancy in Sweden.
Fear of childbirth according to parity, gestational age, and obstetric history.
Absence of conception after caesarean section: voluntary or involuntary?.
Sexual Reprod Healthc. 2014; 5: 99-106
Self reported fear of childbirth and its association with women’s birth experience and mode of delivery: a longitudinal population-based study.
Ekeus C.
Stillbirth among foreign-born women in Sweden.