Normality and collaboration: mothers' perceptions of birth centre versus hospital care

Objective: to describe women's perceptions of care in Western Australian bi rth centres following a previous hospital birth. Design, setting and participants: an exploratory design was used to study t he care experiences of 17 women recruited from three Western Australian bir th centres. Data were obtained from in-depth interviews that explored women 's perceptions of their care in both the birth Centre and hospital context. Findings: four key themes emerged from the analysis: 'beliefs about pregnan cy and birth', 'nature of the care relationship','care interactions', and ' care structures.' The themes of 'beliefs about pregnancy and birth' and 'na ture of the care relationship 'are discussed in this paper. Beliefs about p regnancy and birth refer to the philosophical underpinnings of pregnancy an d birth held by women and their carers. Nature of the care relationship ide ntifies women's perceptions of their relationship with health professionals . Care interactions and care structures will be described in a subsequent p aper. Key conclusions and implications for practice: The women's comments suggest ed differences in philosophy between hospital and birth-centre settings. Th e philosophy and beliefs of caregivers was an important component of the ca re experience. Women valued the normality of the birth-centre approach and the opportunity to experience the birth of their child with collaborative s upport from a midwife. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.