title: "Relinquish the reins": persuasion and consensus in the discourse of pregnancy and childbirth advice literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Popular pregnancy and childbirth advice books constitute an important source of information for pregnant women. These texts shape women's perceptions of pregnancy, childbirth and the medical care they will receive during this time.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article reports on a study of the enactment of power relations between pregnant women and their medical caregivers in the discourse of pregnancy and childbirth advice literature and its implications for practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study focuses on the discursive positioning of women in relation to medical personnel through a critical discourse analysis of two popular advice books, one in English and one in French.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The article suggests that through the use of a number of key discursive strategies, pregnant women are constructed as under the control of the medical institution in these texts. However, this control is not achieved by an overt oppressive discourse, instead it is achieved through persuasion and consensus by generating the consent of pregnant women to comply with medical norms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The medical institution is represented in these texts as a dominant force while women are constructed as powerless recipients of medical care. Medical professionals should firstly consider whether the power relations represented in these texts correspond to those enacted in clinics and delivery rooms. Secondly, caregivers should be cautious about recommending popular pregnancy and childbirth advice books to women as the relationship between pregnant women and their caregivers may be undermined by the negative power asymmetry enacted in these texts.
authors.affiliation: Department of French, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. Electronic address: ornaith.rodgers@nuigalway.ie.
authors.forename: Ornaith
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rodgers
mesh_terms: D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D036801:Parturition; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People; D013782:Textbooks as Topic; D016387:Women's Health