The reactions of East London women to medical intervention in childbirth

Abstract

The reactions of 50 women were assessed to medical intervention, and specifically induction and epidural anaesthetics. Women were given repeat interviews in hospital during labour, shortly after delivery and at home four to six weeks afterwards. Their reactions were obtained from semi-structured interviews with the women on each occasion. The general reactions of these largely working class women to intervention and to epidurals is positive compared with evidence collected in some other studies. Their complaints were mainly that they were kept uninformed and of what seemed to them to be arbitrary changes in medical procedures. Women's reactions and their major concerns changed according to when they were interviewed. These results are discussed in terms of mothers' reaction to hospitalisation, their attitudes to medical technology and medical personnel, their knowledge of childbirth and their attitudes to pain and to pain relief.