Women's expectations, preferences and needs in midwifery care - results from the qualitative Midwifery Care (MiCa) study: Childbirth and early parenthood

OBJECTIVE: The main goals of our study were (I) the investigation of expectations and preferences as well as (II) the determination of needs of women in regard to midwifery care.

DESIGN: Descriptive phenomenology was used to investigate the ways in which women experienced childbirth and early parenthood. A descriptive qualitative research design was chosen, using focus groups.

SETTING: ix online focus groups were carried out with 19 women for this part of the Midwifery Care (MiCa) study, mainly from the north of Germany.

PARTICIPANTS: Women shortly after birth, in puerperium and the first year after childbirth were recruited in Germany. A purposeful strategy according to maximum variation sampling was applied to reach diversity in the sample regarding age and previous children. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis, according to Mayring, with support of the qualitative data analysis software MAXQDA 2022.

FINDINGS: Six main categories were derived for both childbirth and early parenthood: (a) involvement of family, (b) need for information, (c) physical and psychological aspects and (d) orientation in the healthcare system. In each group, one main category about provision of healthcare was developed: (e) care around childbirth and (f) midwifery care in early parenthood. Women attached great importance to the communication with midwives and favoured the involvement of their partners in the childbirth process and during parenting. Based on different experiences and inconsistency of information, women would prefer consistency in staff and communication as well as standardised information.

CONCLUSIONS: From the user's perspective, midwifery care is crucial during childbirth and the child's first year of life. Current health care during and after childbirth and early parenthood lacks individualised care models, emotional support, adequate and professional communication between different health care providers, and consistency in midwifery care. Our findings should be translated into health care delivery with effective interprofessional teamwork within the continuity of midwifery care. Further quantitative research should analyse the individual healthcare situations of women in the reproductive phase of their life as well as of the applied healthcare models in order to personalise care and to improve healthcare quality.