Wait and transfer, curate and prosume: Women’s social experiences of birth spaces architecture

Sarah Joyce

doi:10.1016/j.wombi.2020.11.003

Abstract

BackgroundThe birth environment can help or hinder physiological birth and influence a woman’s level of satisfaction with birth. AimThis paper gives new theoretical insights into how spatial architecture influences birthing women and their birth processes. It builds the architectural awareness of midwives/ designers need by linking design regulations/recommendations and experiential aspects of birth spaces architecture. MethodsTwo qualitative methods were used: (1) a regulation/policy document critique, and (2) childbearing women’s spatial experiences explored in semi-structured interviews with drawing methods (24 mothers in a case study location in the north of England, UK). Themes emerged from semiotic (documents/visual data) and thematic (transcripts) analysis, and their relationships explored. FindingsThe regulatory documents revealed four spatial categorization concepts: (1) medical risk; (2) a tripartite clinical approach; (3) single-function birth space; and (4) a woman-centered approach. In contrast, women experience birth spaces architecture as an amalgam of all the spaces they use and in affective, interpersonal. Two patterns of spatial use emerged from the interviews: (1) ‘wait and transfer’ (more common in healthcare buildings); and (2) ‘curate and prosume’ (more common in women’s homes). Women gave greater positive descriptions of the ‘curate and prosume’ pattern. ConclusionsThe influence of building regulations on hospital settings and women’s prior experiences of such spaces through appointments and antenatal education, shape women’s spatial experiences of childbirth. This new evidence can act as a catalyst to evolve birth space design towards delivering woman-centered and personalized care in spaces designed for women to ‘curate and prosume’.

Highlights

I focused on the capacity of visual methods for eliciting spatial experiences in comprehensive, holistic ways including via senses, perception and memory [28]
I present four spatial categorization concepts from the policy design guidance document analysis which influence the production of birth spaces; secondly, I describe the nature of women’s experiences; and report two distinct patterns of spatial use, and related labor behaviors and experiences, which emerged as significant themes in the interviews
Four spatial categorization concepts for the production of birth spaces were identified in the UK Health Building Note 09-02 for maternity facilities and these were compared to care and design

Summary

Introduction

Aim: This paper gives new theoretical insights into how spatial architecture influences birthing women and their birth processes It builds the architectural awareness of midwives/ designers need by linking design regulations/recommendations and experiential aspects of birth spaces architecture. Conclusions: The influence of building regulations on hospital settings and women’s prior experiences of such spaces through appointments and antenatal education, shape women’s spatial experiences of childbirth. This new evidence can act as a catalyst to evolve birth space design towards delivering woman-centered and personalized care in spaces designed for women to ‘curate and prosume’.

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Conclusion