Confident Birthing: What Influences Women's Confidence for Birth?

This study aims to help women have a better birth experience, by trying to understand what a 'confident birth' means to women during pregnancy and labour. Results from a recent service evaluation at a local NHS Trust, exploring a new programme designed to enhance women's birth experience, highlighted the importance of understanding women's confidence for birth. A significant number of pregnant women that attended the course (19.5%) felt 'not at all confident' for birth. The service evaluation results also suggested that confidence for birth is an important influence of enhancing birth experience.

There is some research that suggests that if women's confidence for birth can be improved, then she may be less fearful of birth and have experience less labour pain. However, very little is known about what women consider to be a 'confident birth' and who or what they feel influences their confidence. If maternity services are able to understand this, this could possibly lead to the development of tools and strategies to help women to feel more confident for giving birth.

This is a qualitative study that involves two methods of data collection: interviews and social media. Women that are pregnant or have recently given birth will be interviewed to explore who or what they feel has influenced their confidence for birth. The interviews will last for about one and a half hours. The location for interview is flexible and women can be interviewed in their own home. In addition to this, approximately 500 messages posted on a large UK parenting website about confidence for birth will also be analysed.

Inclusion criteria

• given birth within the last two years or are pregnant
• consider themselves well enough to take part in the study
• have received maternity care from specific NHS Trust

Exclusion criteria

• under 18 years old
• have not received maternity care from specific NHS Trust