Exploring women's motivations to freebirth and their experience of maternity care: protocol for a systematic qualitative evidence synthesis. [Protocol]

Velo Higueras, Maria; Douglas, Flora; Kennedy, Catriona

Abstract

Freebirth is the deliberate choice to give birth at home without a regulated healthcare professional. It is also known as unassisted childbirth. While the choice to decline professional care refers mainly to the intrapartum period, women who freebirth may choose to accept all, some or no antenatal and postnatal care. The last decade has seen an apparently increased number of women opting to freebirth; however, as a choice outside of the boundaries of health systems, it is difficult to know its exact prevalence. It is likely that freebirth may represent just a small proportion of the already low numbers (<1%) of homebirths in high income countries. Given that freebirth happens at the margin of maternity services, the impact of this choice in maternal and neonatal outcomes is currently unknown. This is a protocol for a systematic review, the objective of which is to identify, appraise and synthesise the qualitative evidence on women's motivations to freebirth and their experience of maternity care when choosing freebirth, with special attention to their perceptions of maternity care provision. This qualitative evidence synthesis aims to answer the following questions: 1) What factors influence women's choice to freebirth?; 2) How do women who freebirth perceive maternity care?; 3) What is the care experience for women who choose to freebirth?

Citation

VELO HIGUERAS, M., DOUGLAS, F. and KENNEDY, C. 2024. Exploring women's motivations to freebirth and their experience of maternity care: protocol for a systematic qualitative evidence synthesis. [Protocol]. PROSPERO [online], item number CRD42022325482. Available from: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=325482

• Other Type: Protocol
• Online Publication Date: Apr 13, 2022
• Publication Date: Apr 30, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 25, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2022
• Publisher: University of York. Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
• Keywords: Freebirth; Unassisted birth; Maternity care; Maternity health services
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1640883
• Publisher URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=325482&VersionID=2251036
• Related Public URLs: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2270278 (Article)
• Additional Information: This is the third version of this protocol, which was registered on PROSPERO on the 13th April 2022.