Duke University, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities and History of Medicine, 108 Seeley G Mudd, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2010 Aug;71(4):769-76. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.05.024. Epub 2010 Jun 4.
Childbearing women, healthcare providers, and commentators on birth broadly identify control as an important issue during childbirth; however, control is rarely defined in literature on the topic. Here we seek to deconstruct the term control as used by childbearing women to better understand the issues and concepts underpinning it. Based on qualitative interviews with 101 parous women in the United States, we analyze meanings of control within the context of birth narratives. We find these meanings correspond to five distinct domains: self-determination, respect, personal security, attachment, and knowledge. We also find ambivalence about this term and concept, in that half our sample recognizes "you cannot control birth". Together, these findings call into question the usefulness of the term for measuring quality or improving maternity care and highlight other concepts which may be more fruitfully explored.
生育妇女、医疗保健提供者和广大的分娩评论员普遍认为控制是分娩过程中的一个重要问题；然而，在关于该主题的文献中，控制一词很少被定义。在这里，我们试图解构生育妇女使用的“控制”一词，以更好地理解其背后的问题和概念。基于对美国 101 名经产妇的定性访谈，我们在分娩叙述的背景下分析了控制的含义。我们发现这些含义与五个不同的领域相对应：自主、尊重、人身安全、依恋和知识。我们还发现对这个词和概念的矛盾态度，因为我们的样本中有一半人认识到“你无法控制分娩”。总之，这些发现使人质疑该术语在衡量质量或改善产妇护理方面的有用性，并强调了可能更有成效地探讨的其他概念。
