Women's experiences of fear of childbirth: a metasynthesis of qualitative studies.
Authors
Wigert, HelenaNilsson, Christina
Dencker, Anna
Begley, Cecily
Jangsten, Elisabeth
Sparud-Lundin, Carina
Mollberg, Margareta
Patel, Harshida
Keywords
Fear after childbirthfear of childbirth
meta-synthesis
requests for caesarean section
women experience
Metadata
Show full item recordJournal
International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-beingDOI
10.1080/17482631.2019.1704484PubMed ID
31858891Abstract
Purpose: Women's experiences of pregnancy, labour and birth are for some pregnant women negative and they develop a fear of childbirth, which can have consequences for their wellbeing and health. The aim was to synthesize qualitative literature to deepen the understanding of women's experiences of fear of childbirth.Methods: A systematic literature search and a meta-synthesis that included 14 qualitative papers.Results: The main results demonstrate a deepened understanding of women's experiences of fear of childbirth interpreted through the metaphor "being at a point of no return". Being at this point meant that the women thought there was no turning back from their situation, further described in the three themes: To suffer consequences from traumatic births, To lack warranty and understanding, and To face the fear.Conclusions: Women with fear of childbirth are need of support that can meet their existential issues about being at this point of no return, allowing them to express and integrate their feelings, experiences and expectations during pregnancy, childbirth and after birth.Women with fear after birth, i.e., after an earlier negative birth experience, need support that enables them to regain trust in maternity care professionals and their willingness to provide them with good care that offers the support that individual women require. Women pregnant for the first time require similar support to reassure them that other's experiences will not happen to them.Item Type
ArticleOther
Language
enEISSN
1748-2631ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/17482631.2019.1704484
Scopus Count
Collections
Related articles
- The delivery room: is it a safe place? A hermeneutic analysis of women's negative birth experiences.
- Authors: Nilsson C
- Issue date: 2014 Dec
- Sources, responses and moderators of childbirth fear in Australian women: a qualitative investigation.
- Authors: Fenwick J, Toohill J, Creedy DK, Smith J, Gamble J
- Issue date: 2015 Jan
- Previous birth experience in women with intense fear of childbirth.
- Authors: Nilsson C, Bondas T, Lundgren I
- Issue date: 2010 May-Jun
- Examining the content and moderators of women's fears for giving birth: A meta-synthesis.
- Authors: Sheen K, Slade P
- Issue date: 2018 Jul
- Self reported fear of childbirth and its association with women's birth experience and mode of delivery: a longitudinal population-based study.
- Authors: Nilsson C, Lundgren I, Karlström A, Hildingsson I
- Issue date: 2012 Sep