Dimensions of nurse and patient roles in labor

Nurses, as the principal caregivers during labor, play a major role in structuring the social context of childbirth. The influence of nurse‐patient verbal interaction on the social construction of the childbirth experience was investigated. Verbatim records of nurse‐patient interaction during labor were analyzed using Stiles's (1978a) Taxonomy of Verbal Response Modes. Nurse and patient scores on three dimensions of interpersonal roles, attentiveness, acquiescence, and presumptuousness, were determined. The results indicated that nurses established and maintained control over the definition of the childbirth experience. The viewpoint of the laboring woman was seldom acknowledged as relevant. Presumption of knowledge of the laboring woman's experience and failure to determine her perception of the situation can have a negative impact on individualization of care and the creation of a patient‐centered birthing environment.