Women and partners’ experiences of critical perinatal events: a qualitative study

Objective The aim of this study was to explore women
and partners’ experiences following critical perinatal
events.
Design This is a qualitative interview study. We conducted
semistructured individual interviews with women and their
partners in separate rooms. Interviews were analysed
thematically and validated by a transdisciplinary group of
anthropologists, obstetricians and a midwife.
Setting Department of obstetrics at a tertiary referral
university hospital in Denmark.
Participants Women and partners who had experienced a
critical perinatal event within the past 3–12 months.
Results We conducted 17 interviews and identified three
main themes: (1) ambivalence towards medicalisation, (2)
the extended temporality of a critical birth and (3) postnatal
loss of attention from healthcare professionals. Overall,
participants expressed a high degree of trust in and quality
of provided healthcare during the critical perinatal events.
They experienced medicalisation (obstetric interventions)
as a necessity, linking them to the safety of the child and
their new role as responsible parents. However, some
women experienced disempowerment when healthcare
professionals overlooked their ability to stay actively
involved during birth events. Postnatally, women and their
partners experienced shortages of healthcare professional
resources, absent healthcare and lack of attention.
Conclusions Women and their partners’ experiences
of critical perinatal events begin long before and end
long after the actual moment of childbirth, challenging
conventional ideas about the birth as being the pivotal
event in making families. In future healthcare planning, it
is important to to align expectations and guide parental
involvement in birth events and to acknowledge the
postnatal period as equally crucial.