title: Normal birth: social-medical model.
abstract: Understanding the underlying sociological models of pregnancy and childbirth can help policy makers, midwives and new mothers to put issues around 'normal birth' into perspective. Being aware of the medical and social model of childbirth also helps us understand why some people seeing the world from one particular perspective cannot 'see' or comprehend solutions to a problem that are based on an opposing perspective. Whether you regard pregnancy as a normal event in a woman's life cycle or as a risky event that can only be defined as safe in retrospect, gives strong clues as to how you see the world. It is important to be aware that models are constructed to help us understand the world; they are abstract, not 'real', although they can be real in their consequences.
authors.affiliation: St Mary's Maternity Hospital, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
authors.forename: Jilly
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ireland
authors.affiliation: Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health, Bournemouth University.
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van Teijlingen
mesh_terms: D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009321:Natural Childbirth / Q000379:methods; D024802:Nurse's Role; D036801:Parturition; D011247:Pregnancy; D012938:Social Perception; D012945:Social Values