查看文章

To compare the personal preferences of pregnant women, midwives and obstetricians regarding a range of physical, psychosocial and pharmacological methods of pain relief for childbirth.

Self-completed questionnaires were posted to a consecutive sample of 400 pregnant women booked-in to a large tertiary referral centre for maternity care in South Australia. A similar questionnaire was distributed to a national sample of 500 obstetricians as well as 425 midwives at: (1) the same hospital as the pregnant women, (2) an outer-metropolitan teaching hospital and (3) a district hospital. Eligible response rates were: pregnant women 31% (n=123), obstetricians 50% (n=242) and midwives 49% (n=210).

Overall, midwives had a greater personal preference for most of the physical pain relief methods and obstetricians a greater personal preference for pharmacological methods than the …