Profile of women who had home birth attended by nurse midwives in Rio de Janeiro-Brazil

Background: It is noticed nowadays an increaseof women who decided for home births. Many of them justified their decision based on a wish for a childbirthwith no intervention.  Nurse midwives,adopting the World Health... [ view full abstract ]

Background: It is noticed nowadays an increaseof women who decided for home births. Many of them justified their decision based on a wish for a childbirthwith no intervention.  Nurse midwives,adopting the World Health Organization recommendations concerning safedelivery, use non-invasive care technologies, preserving the physiologicalevolution of labor. In this sense, a planned home birth drive women and nursesto the rescue of childbirth’s physiology, historically associated to thenatural process of giving birth. Objective:To analyze the profile of women who had home birth attended by nurse midwives. Methods: it is a descriptive,quantitative study which data source consisted of records referring to womenattended at home births, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2013-2016. To have hadat least one home birth accompanied by nurse midwives was the inclusioncriterion. The sample consisted of 65 women. The variables age, monthly familyincome, habitual occupation, educational level, previous birth and previoushome birth were analyzed. Results:Women aged 31-35 years were 50.8%; the most recurrent family monthly income wasmore than $ 3,201.00 (32.30%), followed by families with income between $1.900,00and $3.200,00 (26.15% ). The predominant professions were schoolteacher(10.8%), full time mother (9.2%), engineer and psychologist (7.7%). 41.5% ofwomen had university education, 30.7% with specialization. More than half of thesewomen (53.9%) had more than one pregnancy, and among them, 29.2% had previouslynormal deliveries in hospital, 12.3%, cesarean section and 12.3%, home birth.All those who had a previous home birth opted to give birth at home again. Conclusion: The profile of women whoopted for home birth evidences a better educational and income level. This allowsthem a better condition for making choices, as well as the possibility ofopting for home birth, despite the high cost, since home birth in Brazil doesnot integrate the National Health System. It is important to mention theinclusion of home birth as a right assured by public policy. The choice for nursemidwives reinforces the idea of trustiness in this professional, which has adequateskills and competences for midwifery care.