Abstract
The material in this series of papers is derived from a Department of Health funded evaluation of the MIDIRS Informed Choice leaflets (Kirkham and Stapleton, 2001). Many women in this study expressed their disappointment when midwives behaved like doctors in placing more emphasis on clinical tasks rather than on the facilitative and listening skills required to support informed decision-making. Some women perceived midwives as oppressed and conformist with few opportunities for acting as autonomous and empowered professional women. Women were very aware that midwives were busy people with many demands on their time and this inhibited them from asking questions and voicing their concerns. Pregnant women use a wide variety of information-seeking strategies. The range and sophistication of these behaviours went mostly unrecognised by midwives, some of whom mistook them as evidence of women’s avoidance of decision-making responsibility. Midwives who stood by women when they made unconventional choices were referred to as ‘gold mines’ and were greatly treasured and respected.
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