Implied Meanings and Measures of Pregnant Women's Selecting Specified Time for Planned Cesarean Section

Abstract

Objectives: This study were to investigate the main decision makers, ways, and implied meanings of pregnant women's selecting time for planned cesarean section, and to understand pregnant women's satisfaction with care and their alternative measures for missing specified time in planned cesarean section. Methods: Adopting purposive sampling and a structured interview schedule, the researcher interviewed 134 pregnant women who had specified time for planned cesarean section in the obstetric ward on the first day of the participant's admission and before the operation at one regional teaching hospital from May 2005 to August 2006. Results: In selecting specified time for planned cesarean section, 48.5% of pregnant women thought of their husbands as decision makers, 38.8% consulted with gods as the reference to decision-making, and 47.0% thought that the implied meaning of selecting specified time was to pray for the safety of mother and baby. As to the ways of selecting specified time for cesarean section, age, ethnicity, education, family income, parity, primary diagnosis of participants, and their decision makers were significantly different among the study groups of selecting ”farmer's almanac,” ”astrology,” and ”gods” respectively. Regarding the implied meaning of selecting specified time, age, ethnicity, education, occupation, family income, parity, and primary diagnosis of participants were significantly different among the study groups of ”pray for the safety of the mother and baby,” ”pre-set destiny for the child,” and ”concern and wishes of parents” respectively. In case of missing specified time for cesarean section, 75.4% of pregnant women expressed dissatisfaction with care and looked for a good name for their babies as an alternative measure in the coming days. Conclusions: In the decision-making process of pregnant women's selecting specified time for planned cesarean section, the husband acting as the dominant role in patriarchal society, asking gods as the reference, and praying for the safety of mother and baby as the implied meaning of selecting specified time were very common folk customs. Understanding the results of this study will help health professionals to provide adequate healthcare services for their clients to cater to their needs.