Women's experiences and views of care during labour and birth: Findings from the Norwegian part of the Babies Born Better-Survey (B3-Survey)

The B3-Survey is part of COST Action IS1405. It was developed to explore women’s experiences and views of maternity care across Europe. The aim of the survey was to highlight areas of good practice in maternity provision.... [ view full abstract ]

The B3-Survey is part of COST Action IS1405. It was developed to explore women’s experiences and views of maternity care across Europe. The aim of the survey was to highlight areas of good practice in maternity provision. The survey has been promoted using social media, through identified discussion forums on maternity-related websites popular within each of the countries involved in the COST Action. The aim of our study was to highlight some aspects of Norwegian women’s description of the care they received in the place they gave birth.

Methods: The B3-Survey is an online self-recruited survey with fixed and open-ended questions about the respondent’s last birth. Responses to the following open-ended questions were analysed: 'What were the three best things about the care you received?' 'If you had the power to make three changes in the care you had, what would those be?' Data were coded with an inductively evolved framework into four themes and several sub-themes: 'Relations, feelings, atmosphere and attitude' (11 sub-themes), 'Specific interventions and scenarios' (8 sub-themes), 'Involved actors' (5 sub-themes), 'Setting, organization, premises and catering' (10 sub-themes).

Results: The sample in this study consisted of 3000 women who gave birth in Norway in 2014 and 2015. In 72% of the births, the midwife was the main care provider, in 23% both midwives and doctors were involved. The women entered 12957 responses to the two questions, approximately 60% positive and 40% negative responses. Theme one had most responses, theme two second most. There were most entries coded in the sub themes 'midwifery care during labour', 'competence', 'self-determination', 'time/presence' and 'pain relief'.  

Discussion: Women value midwifery care during labour and competence mostly in a positive way. Women’s experiences of self-determination and time and presence of their caregivers are both negative and positive. Many women have views on timing, access and amount of pain relief during labour. These responses may indicate the value women put on caregivers engagement and continuity of care during labour and birth. 

Conclusion: Relational and emotional aspects of care and timely pain relief seem to be important for the women in this sample.