Abstract
AbstractBackground: Bir th memories about their childbir th experience are powerful factors influencingwomen’s future fer tility and exploring bir th memories is impor tant. Bir th memories of women inJordan have never been reported previously.Objective: To explore the childbir th memories of women in Jordan.Design: An explorator y descriptive study was conducted to collect quantitative and qualitativedata on 160 first-time mothers giving bir th in Nor thern Jordan’s Bade’ a Hospital. Data werecollected using three open-ended questions up to six weeks after the bir th. Major themesemerging from the analysis were subject to manifest and latent content analysis to quantifyqualitative data where appropriate .Results: All women were married and their age ranged from 17 to 37 years. About two-thirds(64.5%) had school education and 35.5% had graduate education. The majority (72.5%) werehousewives. The major themes to emerge from the data were negative childbir th memories,women being processed, dehumanised bir th, vivid recall, halo effect, the joy of becoming amother and praise for the suppor t of Allah.Conclusion: Findings provide evidence of the poor care that women receive during labour andbir th. Women seem to be processed as objects to give bir th in a technological manner. They are treated more like machines devoid of feeling than independent women requiring information, childbirth education or suppor tive ‘one to one’ care . Childbir th care was based on a medical model where the bir th process is institutionalised, managed and controlled by the use of birth technology. There was no evidence of holistic care provided for women, and little consideration of their psychological, environmental or family relationships.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
| Journal | Journal of Research in Nursing |
| Volume | online |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 25 May 2012 |
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Keywords
- bir th memories
- bir th technolog y
- childbir th experience
- Jordan
- Middle East
- qualitative study
