Exploring trust in (bio)medical and experiential knowledge of birth: The perspectives of pregnant women, new mothers and maternity care providers

Clancy, Georgia; Boardman, Felicity; Rees, Sophie

Abstract

Objective: To explore women's and maternity care providers’ experiences of birth, and the roles of (bio)medical and experiential knowledge therein. Research design/setting: In-depth qualitative interviews were undertaken with pregnant women and new mothers (n = 14) as well as with a range of maternity care providers working for the National Health Service (n = 6) and privately (n = 7). Findings: Trust emerged as a key concept in women's and maternity care providers' narratives. It was found that women and maternity care providers placed trust in two key areas: trust in past experiences and trust in women's innate abilities and embodied knowledge of birth. Key conclusions: Women and maternity care providers trust and utilise both (bio)medical and experiential forms of knowledge of birth in complex ways and the value an individual ascribes to (bio)medical and/or experiential knowledge is highly subjective, and not necessarily mutually exclusive. This destabilises the notion that (bio)medical knowledge is associated with experts and experiential knowledge is associated with ‘lay’ people, and that these two bodies of knowledge are distinct. Implications for practice: Trust is a key concept in maternity care. The predominance of biomedical models of birth risk reducing trust in the value of experiential based birth knowledges – both embodied and empathetic. Trust in experiential knowledge could help to facilitate woman-centred care by recognising women as valuable ‘knowers’ with unique insight to contribute, and not just receivers of medical knowledge. It may also help providers ‘tune-in’ with the women in their care if they allow their experiential knowledge to complement their (bio)medical knowledge.

Citation

Clancy, G., Boardman, F., & Rees, S. (2022). Exploring trust in (bio)medical and experiential knowledge of birth: The perspectives of pregnant women, new mothers and maternity care providers. Midwifery, 107, Article 103272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2022.103272

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 3, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 4, 2022
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Apr 26, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 28, 2023
• Journal: Midwifery
• Electronic ISSN: 1532-3099
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 107
• Article Number: 103272
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2022.103272
• Keywords: Experiential knowledge, Embodied knowledge, Childbirth, Pregnancy, Maternity care
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/19789415
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266613822000249?via%3Dihub