Birth expectations, birth experiences and childbirth-related post-traumatic stress symptoms in mothers and birth companions:

Asuman Buyukcan-Tetik, Lara Seefeld, Luisa Bergunde, Turan Deniz Ergun, Pelin Dikmen-Yildiz, Antje Horsch, Susan Garthus-Niegel, Mirjam Oosterman, Joan Lalor, Tobias Weigl, Annick Bogaerts, Sarah Van Haeken, Soo Downe, Susan Ayers*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: During the perinatal period, women and their birth companions form expectations about childbirth. We aimed to examine whether a mismatch between birth expectations and experiences predict childbirth-related post-traumatic stress symptoms (CB-PTSS) for mothers and birth companions. We also explored the influence of the mismatch between mothers' and birth companions' expectations/experiences on CB-PTSS.

DESIGN: Dyadic longitudinal data from the Self-Hypnosis IntraPartum Trial.

METHODS: Participants (n = 469 mothers; n = 358 birth companions) completed questionnaires at 27 and 36 weeks of gestation and 2 and 6 weeks post-partum. We used the measures of birth expectations (36 weeks gestation), birth experiences (2 weeks post-partum) and CB-PTSS (6 weeks post-partum).

RESULTS: Correlations revealed that birth expectations were associated with experiences for both mothers and birth companions but were not consistently associated with CB-PTSS. Birth experiences related to CB-PTSS for both mothers and birth companions. The response surface analysis results showed no support for the effect of a mismatch between expectations and experiences on CB-PTSS in mothers or birth companions. Similarly, a mismatch between mothers' and birth companions' expectations or experiences was unrelated to CB-PTSS.

CONCLUSIONS: Following previous literature, birth expectations were associated with experiences, and experiences were associated with CB-PTSS. By testing the effect of the match between birth experiences and expectations using an advanced statistical method, we found that experiences play a more substantial role than the match between experiences and expectations in CB-PTSS. The impact of birth experiences on CB-PTSS highlights the importance of respectful and supportive maternity care.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)925-942
Number of pages18
JournalBritish Journal of Health Psychology
Volume29
Issue number4
Early online date26 Jun 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2024

Keywords

  • birth expectations
  • birth experiences
  • dyadic analysis
  • longitudinal data
  • post-traumatic stress symptoms
  • response surface analysis

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