Hand behaviors of women during childbirth.
An exploratory study was conducted to determine what could be inferred from the hand behaviors of women during childbirth. The specific study questions were: What are the hand actions? What are the objects of the hand actions? What are the purposes of the hand actions? The influence of the uterine state, i.e., contraction or relaxation, on the hand behaviors was also explored. A preliminary study was conducted from which three components of hand behaviors were identified: the hand action, the object of the action, and the purpose of the action. Nine discrete hand actions were defined according to the inter-relationship of the posture, characteristic motion, and the mode of contact of the hand upon the object: grasping, pressing, rubbing, non-moving, gesticulating, holding, playing, palpating, and striking. The objects of the hand actions were grouped into three distinct groups including: the self, inanimate items, and other persons. Eleven purposes of the hand action were inductively defined from the preliminary study: attacking, augmenting, bracing, caretaking, comforting, containing, inactivating, informing, orienting, regulating, and requesting. A data collection instrument, in grid form, to accommodate the rapid recording of the nine types of hand action, the three objects of the actions, and the eleven purposes of the actions, was constructed. The study was conducted in the labor and delivery unit of an urban university-related teaching and research hospital. The specific setting for the study included two sites: the single bed labor room, the primary site; and the delivery room, the secondary site. Thirty women, 10 primigravida and 20 multigravida, ranging from 17 to 34 years of age were the subjects of the study. Of the 30 subjects, 23 experienced a normal onset of labor and 7 had labor induced. The duration of labor ranged from 1 1/2 to 16 1/2 hours with the mean duration 8 3/4 hours. Direct observation was the method for data collection. Observations were conducted once every half hour throughout the subjects' labor experience. During each observation session, the hand behaviors were recorded during one uterine contraction and during 60 seconds of uterine relaxation. The data were tabulated by frequency and by percentage in relation to the hand action, the object of the hand action, the purpose of the hand action, and the uterine state. Findings related to the hand actions demonstrated a predominance of grasping (28%; 765/2,724) and pressing (25%; 670/2,724) actions. Rubbing actions (16%; 421/2,724) and non-moving actions (11%; 313/2,724) were the next most frequently observed actions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007697:Kinesics; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D011247:Pregnancy; D014705:Verbal Behavior