Exploring Women’s Emotions in Perinatal Care: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Objective: To explore women’s emotions during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period throughout the primary and hospitalcare itinerary. Method: Qualitative study based on Grounded Theory. Two discussion groups were held with obstetricians, midwives andnurses. In-depth interviews were conducted with women in the postpartum period. Results: Women’s emotions in perinatal care are acentral category. Based on this category, negative emotions emerge from the interaction between five meta-categories: a) Fear: childbirthpain and mismatched expectations, b) Anxiety and uncertainty: facing the threat of risk and misinformation, c) Shame: compromising privacy,d) Anger and helplessness: asymmetry in the relational structure, e) Loneliness: discontinued care. Positive emotions emerge frommeta-category: f) Calm and confidence: building a symmetrical and humanized clinical interaction. Conclusions: The researchers found anemotional variability due to the coexistence of the technocratic and bio-psycho-social models. These models cast a sense of humanism onperinatal care, compared to a biomedical model