Choice and control as experienced by Chinese and Scottish childbearing women in Scotland.
OBJECTIVE
to provide some insights as to how women's childbearing experiences might be improved.


METHODS
a qualitative comparative approach.


METHODS
maternity units in Scotland.


METHODS
two case comparison, four tape-recorded semi-structured interviews with each of ten Chinese and ten Scottish women, and one unstructured interview with 45 health workers, women's relatives and friends. This study was set against the background of existing literature and the author's personal experience as a midwife in both Chinese and Scottish societies and as a Chinese mother having her first baby in Scotland.


RESULTS
the issues of 'choice' and 'control' in childbearing regulated the social relationships between women, women's bodies, their babies, health workers, obstetric technology and the wider social context. Although the Chinese and Scottish women under investigation were in Scotland, their different cultural backgrounds gave them different expectations, choices and experiences. These differences are further examples of the social and cultural construction of choice and control.


CONCLUSIONS
'choice' and 'control' offered some new dimension for the women to achieve; for the health workers and society to facilitate a new dynamic and stimulating childbearing experience. Women's bodies' cues, their babies and their feeling of being in control could be important in the management and their experience of care.
Cheung
Ngai Fen
NF
P/T Midwife, 16 Polwarth Gardens, Edinburgh, EH 11 1LW, UK.
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003657:Decision Making; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011247:Pregnancy; D012606:Scotland / Q000208:ethnology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health