Childbirth care: the oral history of women who gave birth from the 1940s to 1980s

Abstract

This study's objective was to gain a greater understanding of the changes that took place in the childbirth care model from the experience of women who gave birth in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil from the 1940s to the 1980s. This is a descriptive study conducted with 20 women using the Thematic Oral History method. Data were collected through unstructured interviews. The theme extracted from the interviews was "The experience of childbirth". The results indicate a time and generational demarcation in the 1970s. Childbirths from 1940 to 1960 occurred in a context of transition from home to hospital births. The 1980s represents a turning point in the elements that compose the childbirth care model, such as the type and place of birth and the professional assisting women, with an increased use of technology and obstetric interventions.

Práticas obstétricas hospitalares e suas repercussões no bem-estar materno

“…These transformations caused women to lose their autonomy when subjected to institutional rules and medical decisions, and made them take a supporting role in the childbirth scenario. Added to this, the fact of encountering an unknown environment and people generated stress, fear and loneliness for the parturient woman (3)(4) .…”

Factors Associated With Support Provided to Women During Childbirth by Companions in Public Maternity Hospitals

“…2 Thus, childbirth, under the control of health professionals, migrated from a domestic and family location to a hospital environment, full of rules that excluded the family from the entire process. 3 In 1996, WHO released a guide with guidelines for childbirth assistance emphasizing on family reintegration, with the presence of a companion during labor and delivery being ensured. 4 In Brazil, only in 2005 Law 11,108, also called the "Companion Law", was approved; this achievement promoted new debates in the care and scientific environment, mobilizing looks that would reveal the perceptions of women and companions with this experience.…”

Intrapartum Nurse Perception of Labor Support After Implementation of the Coping With Labor Algorithm

“…Before the 20th century, birth was a normal physiological process that took place in the home. Midwives were typically present in the home to assist with childbirth, and physicians were only present if a problem developed (Leister & Riesco, 2013). Hospitals during this time were a community house for the sick and not considered a safe environment for women to give birth.…”

“…During the beginning of the 20th century, hospitals began improving sanitary conditions, educating health-care providers (HCPs) on childbirth, advancing medical technology for safer births, and providing birthing units for continuous care. These changes led to women transitioning to hospitals for childbirth (Leister & Riesco, 2013;Pugh, 2014). However, in the hospital setting, childbirth was no longer a normal physiological event, but instead evolved into a sterile process with a focus on procedures (Pugh, 2014).…”

“…Following the shift toward hospital births, new inventions such as analgesics, general anesthesia, electronic fetal monitoring, and breastmilk substitutes for infants were developed (Leister & Riesco, 2013;Pugh, 2014). In the hospital, epidural analgesia use increased, which placed women at a higher risk for cesarean births, instrumental vaginal births, fetal distress, and a longer second stage of labor (Tussey et al, 2015).…”