In search of childbirth knowledge.

My purpose in writing this article is to describe the various ways expectant women acquire childbirth knowledge. The data presented here form a small section of a bigger study that examined how expectant women from two cultures prepare for childbirth. The aims of the study were to explore the reasons why some expectant women choose to attend preparation classes run by non-health-care professionals and to describe the ways childbirth knowledge was disseminated to women at the preparation classes. Interviews containing structured and open-ended questions were used to obtain data. The first interview followed completion of a series of eight preparation classes and the second was conducted one month after delivery. Observation techniques were used to collect data on the teaching strategies and the content of classes. Ninety-five expectant women participated in the study. Data analysis included frequency counts and percentages on all structured questions. The open-ended questions were analyzed using the constant comparative method to identify major categories and themes. These were reviewed by a panel of childbirth educators for reliability. Frequencies were calculated for the number of responses in each category. Findings show that women acquire childbirth knowledge in various ways at the classes. They used this information to negotiate their care with health care professionals.