ALONE, I WOULDNT HAVE KNOWN WHAT TO DO - A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON SOCIAL SUPPORT DURING LABOR AND DELIVERY IN MEXICO

This article presents some of the most relevant qualitative results of a trial to evaluate the effects of the provision of psychosocial supp ort to first-time mothers during labor, childbirth and in the immediat e postpartum period in a social security hospital in Mexico City. The article focuses on the experiences of mothers who have received psycho social support from a doula (the term doula is used to identify a woma n who provides continuous support to a woman during labor, delivery an d the immediate postpartum period) and compares them with the experien ces of those women who gave birth following normal hospital routine. S ixteen in-depth interviews were held with women in the immediate post partum period (eight of whom had been accompanied by a doula and eight who had not) before they were discharged from hospital, and the resul ts were analyzed using qualitative techniques. The interviews showed t hat the women accompanied by a doula had a more positive childbirth ex perience. The differences between both groups related to their percept ions of the childbirth experience; the treatment they received from ho spital staff; the information they were given and how well they unders tood it; their perception of hospital routines; their feelings about c esarean sections and, spatial and temporal perceptions. The most impor tant difference between the two groups was the way they expressed thei r feelings about their own labor, their sense of control and their sel f-perception. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.