The "Doing" of Compassionate Care in the Context of Childbirth from a Women's Perspective

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4624754
AutoresCarina Vedeler (0000-0001-5621-2537, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, autor de correspondencia), Anne Britt Vika Nilsen (0000-0003-0521-0632, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences), Soo Downe (0000-0003-2848-2550, ReaCH Group, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK), Tine Schauer Eri (0000-0003-0679-8343, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University)
Año2025
Volumen35
Número10-11
Páginas1177-1190
Fecha de publicación2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/10497323241280370
PMID39561022
OpenAlexW4404523077
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas54

Women who are giving birth need to be met with compassion and understanding from healthcare professionals. However, there are growing concerns about the perceived lack of compassion in the delivery of healthcare services in general and maternity care in particular. We conducted 15 qualitative interviews with women who had given birth in Norway within the previous year, asking them to describe their experiences of compassionate care. We aimed to explore what healthcare professionals "do" that is experienced as compassionate. The analysis was informed by Paul Gilbert's theory of compassion and a concept analysis of compassionate midwifery undertaken by Ménage and colleagues. The compassionate caring actions of healthcare professionals that were identified in the women's narratives generated five themes: attuning actions, validating actions, contextualizing actions, empowering actions, and small acts of kindness. The findings build on the prior theoretical concepts used for the study and provide a nuanced account of how women perceive compassionate care from healthcare professionals. They could contribute to understanding more of the meaning and nature of compassionate care during childbirth. The analysis indicates the importance of ensuring that compassionate care is at the very core of maternity care services

Childbirth · Compassion · Empathy · Health care · Kindness · Narrative · Narrative inquiry · Political science · Pregnancy · Psychotherapist · Qualitative research · Sociology · Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology