Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    How social context impacts on women's fears of childbirth: A Western Australian example

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Fisher, C.
    Hauck, Yvonne
    Fenwick, Jennifer
    Date
    2006
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Fisher, Colleen and Hauck, Yvonne and Fenwick, Jennifer. 2006. How social context impacts on women's fears of childbirth: A Western Australian example. Social Science and Medicine 63: 64-75.
    Source Title
    Social Science and Medicine
    DOI
    10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.11.065
    Faculty
    School of Nursing and Midwifery
    Division of Health Sciences
    School
    Centre for Nursing Research and Development
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14500
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    This paper addresses the limited sociological understanding of the phenomena of childbirth fear using data from a qualitative research project conducted in Western Australia. This qualitative study used an exploratory descriptive design, with 22 women identified as being fearful of birth participating in an in-depth interview. Data analysis using the method of constant comparison revealed that social context, explored within the framework of the medicalisation of childbirth, and the intervening circumstances in which the women gave birth, impacted on how and why they experienced fear. As such, this paper argues that fear of childbirth has social as well as personal dimensions and is both a prospective and retrospective phenomena.The analysis identified prospective fear as both social and personal. The social dimensions were labelled as 'fear of the unknown', 'horror stories' and 'general fear for the well-being of the baby'. Personal dimensions included the 'fear of pain', 'losing control and disempowerment' and 'uniqueness of each birth'. Retrospective fear was exclusively personal and was clustered around the themes of 'previous horror birth' and 'speed of birth'. The analysis also revealed two central factors that mediated against childbirth fear: positive relationships formed with midwives, and the support women received from their informal network. Understanding and unpacking the dimensions of women's childbirth fear, and understanding the nature of relationships that mediate women's fear, provides health care professionals with information on which to base potential intervention strategies and support women in ways that lessen rather than heighten their fear.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Cross-cultural development and psychometric evaluation of a measure to assess fear of childbirth prior to pregnancy
      Stoll, K.; Hauck, Yvonne; Downe, S.; Edmonds, J.; Gross, M.; Malott, A.; McNiven, P.; Swift, E.; Thomson, G.; Hall, W. (2015)
      © 2016. Background: Assessment of childbirth fear, in advance of pregnancy, and early identification of modifiable factors contributing to fear can inform public health initiatives and/or school-based educational programming ...
    • Pre-and postpartum levels of childbirth fear and the relationship to birth outcomes in a cohort of Australian women
      Fenwick, Jennifer; Gamble, J.; Nathan, E.; Bayes, Sara; Hauck, Yvonne (2009)
      To investigate pre- and postpartum levels of childbirth fear in a cohort of childbearing women and explore the relationship to birth outcomes.While results are mixed, there is evidence that fear of childbirth is associated ...
    • Preference for cesarean section in young nulligravid women in eight OECD countries and implications for reproductive health education
      Stoll, K.; Hauck, Yvonne; Downe, S.; Payne, D.; Hall, W. (2017)
      © 2017 The Author(s). Background: Efforts to reduce unnecessary Cesarean sections (CS) in high and middle income countries have focused on changing hospital cultures and policies, care provider attitudes and behaviors, ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.