How do midwives feel when women choose to freebirth?

Velo Higueras, Maria

Abstract

Freebirth is a birth that happens intentionally without the attendance of a qualified health care professional - even when free, universal access to midwifery care is provided by public health care services. A systematic literature review on women's motivations to freebirth revealed how freebirth was rarely women's primary choice, but the result of facing structural and relational barriers to access wanted care. There exists a paucity of research exploring the views and experiences of midwives caring for them. This research aims to address this knowledge gap, using a sequential mixed-methods study with two components. A qualitative interpretive description study captured the subjective experience of freebirth of 14 UK clinical midwives. Findings from this component will inform a quantitative online survey that seeks to explore the generalizability of the qualitative findings in the wider UK midwifery population. A feminist standpoint underpins the methodological choices of this study and informs the analytic lens in interpreting the data. This poster was the winner of the poster competition organised by the RGU Graduate School during the delivery of the module GSM011.

Citation

VELO HIGUERAS, M. 2023. How do midwives feel when women choose to freebirth? Presented at the 2023 RGU Graduate School module GSM011 poster competition, 18 August 2023, Aberdeen, UK.

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: 2023 RGU Graduate School module GSM011 poster competition
• Start Date: Aug 18, 2023
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 1, 2023
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Freebirth; Midwives; Midwifery; Access to health care
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2044137