Women's expectations and experiences of childbirth in a Kenyan public hospital

Abstract

Objective: To explore women's expectations and experiences of childbirth in a Kenyan Level 4 Public Hospital. Design: One-to-one semi-structured interviews conducted from January–March 2012 using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Participants: A purposive sample (n=7) was interviewed antenatally and postnatally. Results: Three major themes emerged: anticipating labour and birth; going through labour and birth; the impact of childbirth. All wanted a natural birth with tolerable labour pain. Women hoped for a good birthing environment, especially having a supportive nurse. Most viewed their childbirth experience as good, but voiced concerns about negative attitudes and unsupportive behaviour: women felt isolated and neglected, describing qualified nurses as inconsiderate and unresponsive to their needs. Conclusions: Areas of commonality and disagreement reflect individual and unique perspectives. There was some variation concerning preference for birth partner support, a cultural factor not reflected in the current international literature. These findings also confirm earlier negative reports concerning childbirth in certain Kenyan public hospitals. While the magnitude of negative birth experiences identified in this study was not as alarming as that identified in previous reports, it confirms that some women in Kenya do not have a fulfilling birth experience.