title: Perceptions of nurses and mothers in four studies of the peripartum period.
abstract: How individuals perceive themselves and how they are perceived by others are an important part of the relationships between childbirth educators, nurses, other health-care providers, and the families they serve. In this paper, four studies are reviewed. One study focused on labor nurses' perception of their roles. Three other studies, each using a different research strategy, examined mothers' perceptions of their experiences during the peripartum period.
authors.affiliation: M ary L ou M oore is an associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Mary Lou
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Moore