The meaning of “control” for childbearing women in the US

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 71; no. 4; pp. 769 - 776
• Main Authors: Namey, Emily E., Lyerly, Anne Drapkin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2010; Elsevier; Pergamon Press Inc
• Series: Social Science & Medicine
• Subjects: Adult; Ambivalence; Attachment; Biological and medical sciences; Birth; Childbearing; Childbirth; Childbirth & labor; Control; Delivery. Postpartum. Lactation; Female; Females; Good birth; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Health behavior; Health care; Health care industry; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health services; Humans; Internal-External Control; Interviews as Topic; Maternal & child health; Meaning; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Mothers; Narration; Narratives; Parturition - psychology; Patient-Centered Care; Personal Autonomy; Physician-Patient Relations; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Qualitative Research; Self Concept; Self Determination; Social sciences; Terminology as Topic; U.S.A; United States; United States of America; USA; USA Control Childbirth Good birth Meaning Woman-centered care; Usefulness; Woman-centered care; Women; Women's health; Womens health; United States; North America; America; United States > US; Good birth; Woman-centered care; USA; Control; Childbirth; Meaning; Human; Center; Birth; Care; Surveillance; Female; Social medicine; Delivery; Woman; Public health
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.05.024

Childbearing women, healthcare providers, and commentators on birth broadly identify control as an important issue during childbirth; however, control is rarely defined in literature on the topic. Here we seek to deconstruct the term control as used by childbearing women to better understand the issues and concepts underpinning it. Based on qualitative interviews with 101 parous women in the United States, we analyze meanings of control within the context of birth narratives. We find these meanings correspond to five distinct domains: self-determination, respect, personal security, attachment, and knowledge. We also find ambivalence about this term and concept, in that half our sample recognizes “you cannot control birth”. Together, these findings call into question the usefulness of the term for measuring quality or improving maternity care and highlight other concepts which may be more fruitfully explored.