title: Choosing homebirth--the women's perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the decision-making process and birth experience of ten women in Finland who had planned to have a home birth.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data were collected by means of in-depth interviews in 2008 and were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several reasons led to a decision to give birth at home. The main reasons were: previous birth experience, considering birth to be a natural process, increased autonomy, the home environment, intuition, the desire to choose the birth attendant, mistrust of the medical establishment and the opportunity to have the baby's siblings present at the birth. There were inhibiting and facilitating factors which influenced the women's decisions, and before making their decisions women sought out information about home birth. Home birth was an extremely positive experience and women highlighted their desire for the development of parent education to empower women in their preparations for birth. Full autonomy, the participation of family members, trust in one's ability to give birth and the absence of pharmacological pain relief were major contributors to the positive birth experience. The need for empowerment through parent education was highlighted in the interviews.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the women of this study home birth was very positive experience in which the autonomy was the important factor. According to this study maternity care services do not respond to women's individual wishes and services should be offer more alternatives and should be more empowering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Lääkärinkatu 1, 33014 Tampere, Finland. maija-riitta.jouhki@uta.fi
authors.forename: Maija-Riitta
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jouhki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006700:Home Childbirth; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011247:Pregnancy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires