Client Responses to a Discrepancy Between the Care They Want and the Care They Receive

Abstract

This paper examines client responses to a discrepancy between the style of c h i l d b i i selected during the pre-natal period and actual experiences during hos- pitalization. Client perceptions of complicity in decisionmaking appear to be the critical variable in determining attitudes toward the planning of future births. The analogy of parent and child is used to illustrate that, in spite of increasing client activity, women in obstetric care still work within a relationship characterized by considerable physician control.