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

may influence their perceptions. Another factor identified by the cultural theory
to influence decision-making is the way information is presented, which may
influence how people react to it, and therefore how they make decisions (Douglas
and Wildavsky 1987; Fowlkes and Miller 1987; Nelkin 1989). If the view of the
cultural theory were applicable in childbirth, then women planning birth in
different venues would make their childbirth choices according to reasons that are
specific to their individual circumstances. For example, one woman might choose
to go for a hospital birth because she does not want her other children to witness
the birth, while on the other hand another might want a home birth because she
wants her other children to witness the process. In the same way, while one
woman might choose to have her children in hospital because of the proximity of
doctors and emergency equipment, another might choose a home birth precisely to
be away from doctors and equipment because she fears that she might be
unnecessarily interfered with.
Secondly, as regards information giving and presentation, a woman who is
given a choice of two hospitals is likely to choose one of the two rather than
something else that was not offered to her, for example, she is unlikely to choose
a home birth unless she has knowledge that it is open to her. Additionally, a
woman who is told only about what is likely to go wrong with a birth and
therefore what a good idea it is to be near a hospital might trust the judgement of
the professionals and go along rather than consider what other alternatives are
available. Conversely, a woman who is told about the good things about a home
birth and nothing about the hospital is likely to go along with a home birth.
Prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky 1979) posits that biases rather
than rational judgements characterise decision-making. This implies that people
might be easily influenced by events that are either favourable or unfavourable to
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