Exploring women’s motivations to freebirth and their experience of maternity care: a systematic qualitative evidence synthesis.

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

Abstract

Freebirth is currently defined as the deliberate choice to give birth without a regulated healthcare professional. Previous reviews have identified factors influencing women’s choice to freebirth, yet, there is limited evidence on what is the care experience for women who choose to freebirth. To synthesise the qualitative evidence on women’s motivations to freebirth and their experience of maternity care when choosing freebirth. The researchers' conducted a qualitative evidence synthesis using a sensitive search strategy in May 2022 and August 2023. Twenty-two publications between 2008 and 2023 and from ten different high-income countries were included. Thematic synthesis, underpinned by a feminist standpoint, was used to analyse the data. Three main analytical themes were developed in response to each of the review questions. a) A quest for a safer birth' describes the factors influencing women's decision to freebirth. b) Powerful and powerless midwives' describes women's perceptions of their care providers (mostly midwives) and how these perceptions influenced their choice to freebirth. c) Rites of self-protection' describes women's care experiences and self-care practices in the pregnancy leading to freebirth. Freebirth was rarely women's primary choice but the result of structural and relational barriers to access wanted care. Self-care in the form of freebirth helped women to achieve a positive birth experience and to protect their reproductive self-determination. A new woman-centred definition of freebirth is proposed as the practice to self-care during birth in contexts where emergency maternity care is readily available.

Citation

VELO HIGUERAS, M., DOUGLAS, F. and KENNEDY, C. 2024. Exploring women's motivations to freebirth and their experience of maternity care: a systematic qualitative evidence synthesis. Hosted on OpenAIR [online]. Available from: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2270278

• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2024
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Keywords: Freebirth; Unassisted childbirth; Self-care; Reproductive rights, qualitative; Home childbirth
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2270278
• Related Public URLs: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1640883 (Protocol)
• Additional Information: This working paper has been submitted to Midwifery on 19.01.2024.