Qualitative study of women's experiences of safe childbirth in maternity care.
Few studies have focused on women's childbirth experiences in relation to patient safety. The aim of this study was to explore the meaning of safety as a process phenomenon by outlining women's positive and negative experiences of safety in childbirth. A descriptive explorative design was chosen and 16 interviews were conducted. Qualitative content analysis was used. One main theme emerged: safe childbirth through involvement and guidance, based on four subthemes. The characteristics of women's experiences of safe childbirth included the need to be informed and involved by sharing and receiving trustworthy information. Women's experiences of unsafe childbirth included lack of meaningful and trustworthy information that resulted in feelings of being misled or lulled into a false sense of security. Not being involved evoked feelings of being ignored. In conclusion, this study highlights issues of importance for safe maternity care. The perspectives of childbearing women can contribute to an understanding of how to achieve meaningful improvements to provide safer maternity care.
['Rönnerhag|Maria|M|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8124-5354', 'Severinsson|Elisabeth|E|', 'Haruna|Megumi|M|', 'Berggren|Ingela|I|']
D000328:Adult D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008427:Maternal Health Services D008875:Middle Aged D036801:Parturition D011247:Pregnancy D037841:Pregnant Women D036301:Qualitative Research D011787:Quality of Health Care D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D013548:Sweden
women's experience safe childbirth childbirth maternity care qualitative content analysis