title: 'Stay home for as long as possible': midwives' priorities and strategies in communicating with first-time mothers in early labour.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the priorities and strategies midwives in a labour ward use in their communication with primiparous women who seek contact in the early phase of labour.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative study using focus groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Norway.
  
  
  METHODS
  18 Midwives.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five themes that seemed to constitute the key elements in the communication were identified. The themes were designated 'Getting the picture', 'Normalising the situation', 'Giving concrete advice', 'Letting the woman make the decision', and 'Staying at home for as long as possible'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this study indicate that the midwives' overall strategy was to encourage women to remain out of hospital for as long as possible 'for their own good'. This strategy seems to rely on knowledge derived from non-contextual science within the dominant medical childbirth paradigm, and might not meet women's needs in early labour. When women are admitted in early labour, midwives should be able to 'protect' these women from unnecessary interventions and do so in partnership with the women themselves rather than accepting that women's mere presence in the labour ward yields complications and increases the likelihood of caesarean section. From the findings of this study, it is reasonable to ask whether an obstacle to this course might be the midwives' subordination to the medical paradigm. This causes midwives to function as 'gatekeepers' to the medical system instead of working in accordance with the philosophy of midwifery: 'for women's own good'.
authors: Vestfold University College, PO Box 2243, N-3103 Tonsberg, Norway. tine.s.eri@hive.no
authors: Tine S
authors: TS
authors: Eri
authors: Astrid
authors: A
authors: Blystad
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Gjengedal
authors: Gunnhild
authors: G
authors: Blaaka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007747:Labor Stage, First; D008880:Midwifery / Q000379:methods*; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education*; D009664:Norway; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult