Staying Home to Give Birth: Why Women in the United States Choose Home Birth

Abstract

Approximately 1% of American women give birth at home and face substantial obstacles when they make this choice. This study describes the reasons that women in the United States choose home birth. A qualitative descriptive secondary analysis was conducted in a previously collected dataset obtained via an online survey. The sample consisted of 160 women who were US residents and planned a home birth at least once. Content analysis was used to study the responses from women to one essay question: "Why did you choose home birth?" Women who participated in the study were mostly married (91%) and white (87%). The majority (62%) had a college education. Our analysis revealed 508 separate statements about why these women chose home birth. Responses were coded and categorized into 26 common themes. The most common reasons given for wanting to birth at home were: 1) safety (n = 38); 2) avoidance of unnecessary medical interventions common in hospital births (n = 38); 3) previous negative hospital experience (n = 37); 4) more control (n = 35); and 5) comfortable, familiar environment (n = 30). Another dominant theme was women's trust in the birth process (n = 25). Women equated medical intervention with reduced safety and trusted their bodies' inherent ability to give birth without interference.

Multiparous women's confidence to have a publicly-funded homebirth: A qualitative study

“…Similarly, the confidence women have in the birth process itself, and their ability to have a natural, normal birth was a strong theme in this study. This trust and belief in a normal birth process is common in other studies of women having homebirths [17,30,31].…”

“…one can be confident to fail at a task. Many studies on women having homebirths relate the reasons women choose homebirth [30,31], and the safety and risk aspects [32][33][34][35].…”

The father’s decision making in home birth

“…5 This search was conducted in textbooks, magazines, and in recent years through the Internet; 26 but in reality the professionals who will attend the birth at home will provide more quality information. 5 It is worth mentioning that in other studies, the fathers recognize that the decision regarding the place where the delivery will occur is made with insufficient data or with information from unreliable sources.…”

Characteristics Associated With Intending and Achieving a Planned Home Birth in the United Kingdom: An Observational Study of 515,777 Maternities in the North West Thames Region, 1988–2000

“…However, one of the problems inherent in these comparisons is the fact that women who have planned home births in the UK and other countries (e.g. the Netherlands and the USA) are not a random sub-set of the population of childbearing women (5,6,7,8). Therefore, we cannot be sure that differences in outcomes are due to place of birth per se, or to the fact that the women who choose a home birth tend to be those who would have positive pregnancy outcomes regardless of where they gave birth (9,10).…”