SynthesisPloS one2024
Key dimensions of women's and their partners' experiences of childbirth: A systematic review of reviews of qualitative studies.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of midwifery students' continuity of care program on women's experiences of maternity care: A randomised controlled trial.PloS one · 2026Trial
- From tokenism to togetherness: the V.O.I.C.E. framework for safety-centred lived experience involvement in perinatal and parenting research.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Childbirth preparation is associated with self-efficacy and the use of non-pharmacological pain relief during labour.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A complex intervention to empower decision-making on mobility among pregnant women during labor: a multi-method study using the MRC framework.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Identifying factors contributing to health workers' preferences for elective caesarean section: a qualitative study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Article
- Multidimensional analysis of childbirth experiences on Chinese social media: an integrated approach using LDA, sentiment analysis and deep learning.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Women's perspectives of decision-making for labour and birth: a qualitative antenatal-postnatal paired interview study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- A qualitative description of birth trauma experiences from Ireland's first psychological birth trauma clinic.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- The importance of promoting positive childbirth experiences for women: a perspective paper.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Influence of patient-centered prenatal education on the birth experience: A qualitative study.Brazilian journal of physical therapyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 11 institutions in 9 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe World Health Organization 2018 intrapartum guideline for a positive birth experience emphasized the importance of maternal emotional and psychological well-being during pregnancy and the need for safe childbirth. Today, in many countries birth is safe, yet many women report negative and traumatic birth experiences, with adverse effects on their and their families' well-being. Many reviews have attempted to understand the complexity of women's and their partners' birth experience; however, it remains unclear what the key dimensions of the birth experience are.
objectiveTo synthesize the information from reviews of qualitative studies on the experience of childbirth in order to identify key dimensions of women's and their partners' childbirth experience.
methodsSystematic database searches yielded 40 reviews, focusing either on general samples or on specific modes of birth or populations, altogether covering primary studies from over 35,000 women (and >1000 partners) in 81 countries. We appraised the reviews' quality, extracted data and analysed it using thematic analysis.
findingsFour key dimensions of women's and partners' birth experience (covering ten subthemes), were identified: 1) Perceptions, including attitudes and beliefs; 2) Physical aspects, including birth environment and pain; 3) Emotional challenges; and 4) Relationships, with birth companions and interactions with healthcare professionals. In contrast with the comprehensive picture that arises from our synthesis, most reviews attended to only one or two of these dimensions.
conclusionsThe identified key dimensions bring to light the complexity and multidimensionality of the birth experience. Within each dimension, pathways leading towards negative and traumatic birth experiences as well as pathways leading to positive experiences become tangible. Identifying key dimensions of the birth experience may help inform education and research in the field of birth experiences and gives guidance to practitioners and policy makers on how to promote positive birth experiences for women and their partners.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.