Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov 22;10(23):e40474.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40474. eCollection 2024 Dec 15.

Rethinking the birth plan after the pandemic: A qualitative study of the view of Spanish midwives

Júlia Martín Badia  1 , Josefina Goberna-Tricas  2 , Noemí Obregón-Gutiérrez  3 , Ainoa Biurrun-Garrido  4   5
Affiliations

Rethinking the birth plan after the pandemic: A qualitative study of the view of Spanish midwives

Júlia Martín Badia et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Background: The birth plan promotes women's autonomy allowing them to express their care preferences and to participate actively in decision-making. During the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns about infection placed limitations on women's decision-making and infringed upon some of their rights. The role of the birth plan, after the pandemic, needs to be reassessed to protect women's rights and ensure high-quality maternity care.

Research aim: To explore Spanish midwives' perspective on the principle of respect for autonomy and how this is reflected in the birth plan, and to identify aspects that can be improved in the new post-pandemic scenario.

Methods: A descriptive phenomenological study of the experiences of Spanish midwives before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic that addresses the use of the birth plan and the impact that the pandemic has had on women's rights. Individual online interviews and face-to-face focus groups were used.

Results: Prior to the pandemic, midwives felt that birth plans had problems related to the unrealistic expectations of some women as well as to a lack of awareness of their usefulness. During the pandemic, women mobilized to challenge restrictive regulations, but faced problems with information dissemination and professional coordination, leading to continued infringement of women's rights post-pandemic.

Conclusion: To enhance the effectiveness of the birth plan in supporting women's autonomy, a deliberative approach is needed, along with improvements in midwives' ethical and communication skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new scenario in which the discussion about the possibility of increasing the number of birthing centres or offering home birth care funded by the public system, should be debated.

Keywords: Childbirth environment; Labour; Midwife; Qualitative research; Relational autonomy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

X The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Interview script.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Themes related to rethinking the birth plan.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. -Sanidad . Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo; Madrid: 2008. Estrategia de atención al parto normal del Sistema Nacional de Salud.
    1. DeBaets A.M. From birth plan to birth partnership: enhancing communication in childbirth. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2017. Jan;216(1):31.e1–31.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2016.09.087. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sánchez-García M.J., Martínez-Rojo F., Galdo-Castiñeiras J.A., Echevarría-Pérez P., Morales-Moreno I. Social perceptions and bioethical implications of birth plans: a qualitative study. Clin. Ethics. 2021;16(3):196–204. doi: 10.1177/1477750920971798. - DOI
    1. National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research . 1978. Belmont Report. Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research. United States. - PubMed
    1. Ley 41/2002, de 14 de noviembre, básica reguladora de la autonomía del paciente y de derechos y obligaciones en materia de información y documentación clínica. BOE 274 de 15/11/2002. Modified 01/03/2023.