ABSTRACT
An analogy between theater and birth is drawn from analyses of women's birth stories to describe birth from a fresh perspective. Birth and theater are compared using the theatrical production elements: setting, casting, props, set, behind the scenes, script, and roles. Selected examples from women's birth stories highlight each element. Nurses' roles are significant during labor and birth, but nurses' abilities to fulfill these roles are threatened. This analogy promotes rethinking of nursing actions in the theater of birth. Implications for clinical practice are provided, including altering the birth environment, offering choices, and maintaining the woman's role as star.
Subject(s)
Drama , Labor, Obstetric/psychology , Obstetric Nursing/methods , Continuity of Patient Care , Delivery Rooms , Female , Health Facility Environment , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Humans , Nurse-Patient Relations , Patient Satisfaction , Personal Autonomy , Pregnancy , United StatesABSTRACT
Graduate nursing faculty evaluated their initial experiences with online course discussions after making the transition from traditional use of weekly face-to-face classroom discussions to primarily computer-based interactions with students at distant sites. The online discussion data were analyzed qualitatively. The ways the faculty member communicated to facilitate active student involvement in the online discussions were coded. Six categories were identified that describe the ways the faculty member communicated to facilitate active student involvement in online discussions: assist with navigation, explain expectations, clarify faculty role, stimulate critical thinking, share expertise, and provide encouragement. Examples of each were provided to demonstrate ways faculty promoted student learning in online discussions.
Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Attitude to Computers , Computer-Assisted Instruction/methods , Education, Distance/organization & administration , Education, Nursing, Graduate/organization & administration , Faculty, Nursing , Nurse Midwives/education , Nurse Midwives/psychology , Online Systems/organization & administration , Problem-Based Learning/organization & administration , Students, Nursing/psychology , Communication , Interprofessional Relations , Nursing Education Research , Nursing Methodology Research , Program EvaluationABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze women's birth stories. Women's perspectives were used to expand the current model of the essential forces of labor (the three Ps: powers, passenger, and passageway). DESIGN: This was a qualitative descriptive study analyzing women's birth narratives. METHODS: Narratives consisted of women's spontaneous responses to the request to tell their birth stories in any way they wished. Fifteen Midwestern women (eight primiparas and seven multiparas) were interviewed, resulting in a total of 33 birth stories. Content and thematic analyses of verbatim transcripts of the birth narratives were done to elicit women's personal meanings of control during labor. RESULTS: Women identified many essential forces of labor that exerted control or direction over their labors. Some of the forces were internal to the women, such as maternal psyche and position, as well as the classic three Ps (powers, passenger, and passageway). Others were external forces such as professional providers and procedures. An expanded model is proposed to demonstrate the complexity of labor and the multiple interacting forces. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The educational model, consisting of three essential forces that currently appears in textbooks, is inadequate. Maternity nursing practice can be improved by including a broader array of the essential forces of labor, thus attending more adequately to the complexity of caring holistically and contextually for laboring women. Women indicated that nurses have a profound impact during labor. Nurses are in a position to make positive change by working with women to share control.
Subject(s)
Labor, Obstetric/physiology , Labor, Obstetric/psychology , Female , Health Facility Environment , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Internal-External Control , Midwestern United States , Models, Nursing , Neonatal Nursing/education , Neonatal Nursing/methods , Pregnancy , Professional-Patient RelationsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Complex interactions occur among women and caregivers throughout labor. Analyzing women's birth stories provides a rich data source on these interactions. The purpose of this qualitative study was to clarify how decisions were made in labor by analyzing women's birth stories. METHODS: A convenience sample of 15 primiparous and multiparous Midwestern women contributed a total of 33 birth stories. Qualitative methods were used, including analyses of the content and themes of stories. RESULTS: The primary types of decision making that were identified ranged on a continuum from unilateral to joint (shared), and were associated with various emotions expressed by the women. CONCLUSIONS: A model of decision making was derived from the data that may help caregivers change practices in ways that will benefit women. Caregivers can also benefit by understanding women's critiques of the birth care they received, and can use this knowledge to improve women's experiences of birth and therefore their satisfaction with the process.
Subject(s)
Decision Making , Labor, Obstetric/psychology , Mothers/psychology , Patient Participation/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Emotions , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Models, Psychological , Nurse-Patient Relations , Nursing Methodology Research , Parity , PregnancyABSTRACT
An educational project used in a professional-issues course for student nurse-midwives is described. The class project involved nurse-midwives portraying (in clay), and subsequently discussing, their individual practice philosophies. Background information on the importance of philosophy statements is provided. Included is the historic influence of a certified nurse-midwife foremother, Ernestine Wiedenbach, on the professional importance of articulating a guiding philosophy.
