The experience of pain in the context of childbirth for Hong Kong Chinese women: a longitudinal cohort interview study

Abstract

Childbirth, the biggest life event for a woman, is a complicated process. Childbirth pain not only involves physiological sensations, but also psychosocial and cultural factors. In addition, the way the woman handles the pain is affected by the meaning she attributes to it. In order to understand the experience of Hong Kong Chinese women in terms of childbirth in general and childbirth pain in particular, and to learn the meanings attributed, a longitudinal qualitative descriptive study was conducted with the aim of exploring the experience and meaning of pain in the context of childbirth for Hong Kong Chinese women. The study was informed by a systematic review and metasynthesis of existing relevant literature. Since people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours may change over a period of time, data were collected from the participants at 4 different time points: around 36 weeks of pregnancy; on postnatal day 3; 6-7 weeks after birth; and 10-12 months after birth. Purposive sampling was employed and a total of 10 Hong Kong Chinese women (5 primiparous and 5 multipararous women) were recruited for the study. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews, informed by phenomenological principles. The resulting data were described using thematic analysis
The results from the metasynthesis together with the four interviews yielded 5 meta-themes: The cultural norms; The trajectory of pain sensation; Facing or escaping the pain; Someone to be with me; and Achievement and growth through the unforgettable experience.
For these participants, satisfaction with their childbirth experience was not related to the pain they experienced, but to the care they received from their husbands and midwives, as well as to their own sense of achievement. Although the women remembered the fact of their pain over time, their affective noxious memories decreased as their concentration was on their
Finally, the meta-themes were interpreted in the light of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and a model was proposed to help women to handle childbirth pain in the future.