Childbirth Experiences Have a Lot to Do With Expectations
This is a paper I wrote for a sociology class in reference to this study http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/cjri/2008/00000026/00000004/art00004
The expectations and experiences that mothers face can be related to the type of care and the culture that the expectant mother is exposed to. The study, “Childbirth expectations and experiences in Belgian and Dutch models of maternity care” conducted by Wendy Christianens, Mieke Verhaeghe and Piet Brake (Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, Vol 26, No 4, Nov 2008, 309-322, Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Belgium) sought to confirm how a mother’s exposure to societal norms, previous experiences, other people’s stories and the way their care giver attend to the perceived needs and expectations account for the actual event’s experience and the level of satisfaction on the mother’s behalf. Belgium and Dutch women develop different patterns of expectations during their pregnancies and tend to have diverging birth experiences according to the care provided to them during their gestational and postpartum periods. The researchers expected that Dutch women would have a more positive outlook about childbirth than Belgium women, though there was no expectation of difference of experiences versus expectation between Belgium and Netherlands due to the socialization processes as a function of the maternity systems...
