Women's Decision-Making And Factors Affecting Their Choice Of ...

childbirth has been seen as a gamble, and a lottery, in which there will sadly be
losers (Szczepinska 1995). The findings of the study that women planning a
home and those planning a hospital birth have different perceptions of risk and
safety related to the place of birth support the proposition of the thesis that
perception of risk in childbirth may influence preference for home or hospital
birth.
Another factor that came out, especially from women planning a hospital
birth, was that they were not informed of the availability of a home birth as an
option, most were given a choice of two hospitals. The practice of only informing
women about the hospital, and not home as an option for childbirth would support
the argument that women are being persuaded to give birth in hospital (Leap
1996; Stapleton 1997). Others have argued that consumer choice is limited to the
services on offer, such that those who extol choice also define the choices
available (Kirkham and Perkins 1997). According to women planning a hospital
birth in the study, the only available choices were between hospitals and did not
include the home. One study found that women felt they were given little choice
about the place of birth, and that the only option adequately explained to them
was the hospital (Rudat, Roberts, and Chowdhury 1993). In a similar survey, it
was found that women were willing to consider alternative maternity facilities
after they were given information about them (Mather 1980). Other studies have
found midwives and GPs to have negative attitudes and to withhold information
about home birth (Bathgate and Ryan 1995; Beech 1995; Devenish 1996; Hosein
1998; Kargar 1998; Leap 1996; Pengelley 1996; Walcott 1997; Warshal 1997).
The lack of information about available options as childbirth venues reiterate the
view of the House of Commons Health committee (House of Commons Health
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