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

hospital even if they were informed about home is very important. It suggests that
giving women information about all available options does not mean that they are
being encouraged to go one way or the other. On the contrary, it may help women
to make more informed and confident choices. On the other hand, women
planning a hospital birth also felt that one has to be strong to opt for a home birth
because it opposes what the midwives believe in. This would suggest that women
planning a hospital birth felt that they were not strong enough to plump for a
home birth. A woman planning a hospital birth captures the view in the following
quotation:
13>ottliciteLo: Fveruthi.vug ts posittovItd to mcourage uOu to OD to hospital, I
would SCIU. 1 tielLtAIR, U014. woulsI have to be quite strovug persovt to be abLe to turivt
it rouvta AKA sit NO, this ts vtot -for vu.e UOR kin..0W, I WCivtt to 111We it at home.
you have to be verb persuastve. I heard somebodu eLse sautvtg that the wanted
it at home auzi the vuldwtfe tritot to couvtvtce her u-ot to hove it nt home, but she
had tuststed. so I thtvtle, to get it at home ( thtvk uou reallu have to fl.ght. i
wouldut sau A 1_00 but ukaube 1.vt, some oases bleu recalu waKt jot. to 00 to
hospital.. i menu. n oltolvVt ask this ttvue rouu.d but i dovt.'t /Zin,OW what thetr
optulovLs wouLd be but I dtduit eveln. ask.
The other proposition made by the thesis is that individual women's risk
perception may also affect their preferences for home or hospital birth. However,
in the light of the results about lack of information regarding what is on offer, it
could be argued that women cannot consider the risk or safety of a home birth
compared to a hospital birth if they are not aware that home birth is available to
them. One can only worry about what they see as a possibility.
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