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

husbands were more involved in the decision-making, but the former seems a
more plausible explanation.
Eighty-five percent of women planning a home birth referred to the home
as relaxed, familiar, and giving them more control. Some of the women even said
that because they are relaxed things were less likely to go wrong. Other studies
also found that women planning a home birth value the control they perceive to
have in their own homes (Cunningham 1993; Schneider 1986; Soderstrom,
Stewart, Kaitell et al 1990). Taking control of what is happening to one during
labour, and being involved in decision-making about one's care have been
associated with a positive experience of labour (Audit Commission 1997;
Davenport-Slack and Boylan 1974; Hodnett and Simmons-Tropea 1987;
Humenick and Bugen 1981). Loss of control in childbirth is seen as
disempowerment of women who strive for normality and are faced with
medicalisation (Graham and Oakley 1981; Kitzinger 1980; Oakley 1980).
Findings of this study therefore support the view that control is an important
element for women in labour (Hodnett and Simmons-Tropea 1987), and that it is
the most important variable to having a satisfying birth experience (Humenick and
Bugen 1981). Results of the current study also suggest that women planning a
home birth perceive control to be related to safety of the childbirth process. The
social environment of the home has important effects on stress and the
physiological processes such as birth (Hodnett and Abel 1986; Kiritz and Moo
1974). Women in the study might therefore have a point in thinking that being in
control makes the childbirth process safer.
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