Technological and humane aspects of maternity care in women's accounts: is there a conflict?

Background: This paper draws on a project exploring women’s understandings of technology within the context of the Irish maternity care system. This system is predominantly hospital based and characterised by restricted and... [ view full abstract ]

Background: This paper draws on a project exploring women’s understandings of technology within the context of the Irish maternity care system. This system is predominantly hospital based and characterised by restricted and unequal access to less technologized care options which contributes to steady increase in technological intervention.
Aim: To explore how technological and humane aspects of maternity care are both juxtaposed and reconciled in women’s accounts.
Method: My methodological framework was guided by a Foucauldian discourse analysis approach. This approach was used to examine how women conceptualise maternity care technology. Data for analysis was generated through individual and group photo-elicitation interviews. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling in community groups and childcare facilities. Ethical approval for the study was granted by author's institution Research Ethics Committee.
Findings: This presentation explores one discursive strategy identified during the research. Women often conceptualised technological and humane aspects of care as being in conflict based on overarching concept of risk. This served to justify both the secondary importance of their personal, emotional, social needs in birth as well as their exclusion from what was happening during their births. I would argue that this juxtaposition serves to prioritise technological expertise in childbirth and needs to be disrupted by turning to women’s accounts.
Conclusions and implications: There is no essential conflict between technological and humane aspects of maternity care, where the former are used judiciously and appropriately. However, at present, they are maintained within a rigid hierarchy by midwives and doctors, based on ‘risk management’ strategies. In turn, they are socially constructed by women in their accounts as mutually exclusive. Such a conceptualisation reinforces the reductionist approach within Irish maternity care and forces women to ‘choose’ between seeking out humane care and accepting technological intervention, with the absence of humane care. The provision of women focused care will become a reality only when women challenge this approach.