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How do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies

BACKGROUND: Women approach birth using various methods of preparation drawing from conventional healthcare providers alongside informal information sources (IIS) outside the professional healthcare context. An investigation of the forms in which these informal information sources are accessed and ne...

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Autores principales: Sanders, Ruth A., Crozier, Kenda
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5761120/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29316887
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12884-017-1648-2
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author Sanders, Ruth A.
Crozier, Kenda
author_facet Sanders, Ruth A.
Crozier, Kenda
author_sort Sanders, Ruth A.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Women approach birth using various methods of preparation drawing from conventional healthcare providers alongside informal information sources (IIS) outside the professional healthcare context. An investigation of the forms in which these informal information sources are accessed and negotiated by women, and how these disconnected and often conflicting elements influence women’s decision-making process for birth have yet to be evaluated. The level of antenatal preparedness women feel can have significant and long lasting implications on their birth experience and transition into motherhood and beyond. The aim of this study was to provide a deeper understanding of how informal information sources influence women’s preparation for birth. METHODS: Seven electronic databases were searched with predetermined search terms. No limitations were imposed for year of publication. English language studies using qualitative methods exploring women’s experiences of informal information sources and their impact upon women’s birth preparation were included, subject to a quality appraisal framework. Searches were initiated in February 2016 and completed by March 2016. Studies were synthesised using an interpretive meta-ethnographic approach. RESULTS: Fourteen studies were included for the final synthesis from Great Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States. Four main themes were identified: Menu Birth; Information Heaven/Hell; Spheres of Support; and Trust. It is evident that women do not enter pregnancy as empty vessels devoid of a conceptual framework, but rather have a pre-constructed embodied knowledge base upon which other information is superimposed. Allied to this, it is clear that informal information was sought to mitigate against the widespread experience of discordant information provided by maternity professionals. CONCLUSION: Women’s access to the deluge of informal information sources in mainstream media during pregnancy have significant impact on decision making for birth. These informal sources redefine the power dynamic between women and maternal healthcare providers, simultaneously increasing levels of anxiety and challenging women’s pre-existing ideations and aspirations of personal birth processes. A lack of awareness by some professionals of women’s information seeking behaviours generates barriers to women-centred support, leaving an experience expectation mismatch unchecked. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CRD42016041491 17/06/16.
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spelling pubmed-57611202018-01-16 How do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies Sanders, Ruth A. Crozier, Kenda BMC Pregnancy Childbirth Research Article BACKGROUND: Women approach birth using various methods of preparation drawing from conventional healthcare providers alongside informal information sources (IIS) outside the professional healthcare context. An investigation of the forms in which these informal information sources are accessed and negotiated by women, and how these disconnected and often conflicting elements influence women’s decision-making process for birth have yet to be evaluated. The level of antenatal preparedness women feel can have significant and long lasting implications on their birth experience and transition into motherhood and beyond. The aim of this study was to provide a deeper understanding of how informal information sources influence women’s preparation for birth. METHODS: Seven electronic databases were searched with predetermined search terms. No limitations were imposed for year of publication. English language studies using qualitative methods exploring women’s experiences of informal information sources and their impact upon women’s birth preparation were included, subject to a quality appraisal framework. Searches were initiated in February 2016 and completed by March 2016. Studies were synthesised using an interpretive meta-ethnographic approach. RESULTS: Fourteen studies were included for the final synthesis from Great Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States. Four main themes were identified: Menu Birth; Information Heaven/Hell; Spheres of Support; and Trust. It is evident that women do not enter pregnancy as empty vessels devoid of a conceptual framework, but rather have a pre-constructed embodied knowledge base upon which other information is superimposed. Allied to this, it is clear that informal information was sought to mitigate against the widespread experience of discordant information provided by maternity professionals. CONCLUSION: Women’s access to the deluge of informal information sources in mainstream media during pregnancy have significant impact on decision making for birth. These informal sources redefine the power dynamic between women and maternal healthcare providers, simultaneously increasing levels of anxiety and challenging women’s pre-existing ideations and aspirations of personal birth processes. A lack of awareness by some professionals of women’s information seeking behaviours generates barriers to women-centred support, leaving an experience expectation mismatch unchecked. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CRD42016041491 17/06/16. BioMed Central 2018-01-10 /pmc/articles/PMC5761120/ /pubmed/29316887 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12884-017-1648-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Sanders, Ruth A.
Crozier, Kenda
How do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies
title How do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies
title_full How do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies
title_fullStr How do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies
title_full_unstemmed How do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies
title_short How do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies
title_sort how do informal information sources influence women’s decision-making for birth? a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5761120/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29316887
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12884-017-1648-2
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