The Relationship between Contents of Verbal Behaviors by Women and Midwives during Labor and Delivery and Womens' Subjective Experiences

Abstract

This study examined contents of verbal behaviors by women and midwives during labor and delivery and the relationship between verbal behavior by midwives and womens' subjective experiences.
Sixteen healthy primigravidous women participated in this study. We observed intrapartum interactions between women and midwives while recording them on videotape and conducted a questionnaire three days after birth. As a result, we found two-way verbal behaviors in the first stage of labor more frequently than the second stage. Then the verbal behavior which has significant correlation with the womens' score of self-evaluation of measures and feelings of accomplishment in labor and delivery was frequencies per 5 minutes of midwives' verbal behavior of acceptance and agreement in the first stage of labor, and was frequencies per 5 minutes of womens' verbal behavior of acceptance and agreement in the second stage. Therefore we found that the first stage of labor was important for establishing relationship between women and midwives because of frequent verbal interactions. Then, it was suggested that continuous acceptance and agreement through labor and delivery had positive effects for self-evaluation of measures and feelings of accomplishment in labor and delivery.