title: Treatment of women in childbirth: implications for family beginnings.
abstract: This paper presents an ethnographic analysis of a woman's interaction with staff members during the early stage of labor, focusing on the factors that shape the childbirth experience. The observational data were gathered in several hospitals as part of a study of the medical context of childbearing. The paper presents a model of naturalistic inquiry into the transition to parenthood. Nurses and physicians are found to offer arbitrary, uniform, and often inappropriate responses to birthing women that may inhibit well-being.
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006748:Hospital Departments; D006801:Humans; D007747:Labor Stage, First; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009775:Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Hospital; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations