Birth Experience in Syrian Refugee Women in Turkey: A Descriptive Phenomenological Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

A negative birth experience affects the woman’s subsequent pregnancy, and delivery processes negatively, decreases patient satisfaction, and the high anxiety/stress experienced during pregnancy/delivery is transferred to the next generations by epigenetic transmission. In this study, women’s birth experiences of Syrian refugees in Turkey aimed to describe in-depth. It was designed as a descriptive phenomenological qualitative study. Fifteen refugee women included in the sample gave birth in Turkey, living in Turkey’s southern city. In-depth interviews were conducted with women. Six themes were formed in the results: “quantitatively enough but unsatisfactory service,” “not providing autonomy,” “think that she was neglected,” “no respect to privacy,” “feeling loneliness/fear in the delivery room,” and “prejudice.” The factors that negatively affect the pregnancy and birth experiences of Syrian refugee women are language/communication barriers, the provision of care services that are incompatible with their religious and cultural values, and their prejudice regarding discrimination.

KEYWORDS:

• Birth experience
• descriptive phenomenological qualitative study
• Syrian refugee women
• Turkey

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank participating women.

Data availability statement

The data collection tools used in the study, the research's raw data, the coding made during analysis phase, and all other materials are reserved for verifiability. The URL address of the data cannot be shared because it is not ethically appropriate. It can be shared if requested from the authors (Şengül Yaman Sözbir, [email protected]) to be used in further studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).