Mulheres e suas expectativas sobre a escolha da via de parto

Abstract

Women’s expectations and choices regarding the way to give birth are closely associated with subjective and unconscious factors, in their feelings, fears and desires, often unknown. In this sense, the objective of this work is to analyze the women’s expectations about the choice of the way to give birth and produce a reflection on the factors that participate in the expectations and produce interference in the choices. For this, a qualitative study was carried out, with a cross-sectional study, and field design, using a focus group called childbirth reporting wheel. Ten women from two public higher education institutions from three cities in the interior of the state of Rio de Janeiro (Rio das Ostras, Macaé and Campos dos Goytacazes) participated in the study between 2018 and 2019. Bardin content analysis was used for data treatment. After analysis, three thematic categories merged, called “the desire for the vaginal chilbirth”, “the partner’s participation in the childbirth decision” and “the family’s participation in the childbirth decision”. We found that all women wanted vaginal childbirth, beliving it’s going to be the best choice for themselves and the baby, and that the “empowerment” and the support of family and partner contribute strongly to decision making about the choice of the way to give birth.