Women's autonomy for managing labour pain in a relational context: An interpretive description study

To describe how women perceived relational autonomy for decision-making during childbirth pain and illuminate influencing factors.

Most women report challenging pain during birth. Circumstances can affect their ability to engage in pain management decisions.

We used an interpretative description approach to conduct this study.

A purposive sample of ten women who reported pain during childbirth participated in semi-structured interviews. The study was conducted between July 2019 and November 2020 and reported according to the COREQ checklist.

Circumstances during childbirth, such as women's expectations and relationships, influenced their efforts to engage in relational autonomy. Care providers dealt with the unpredictability of childbirth and challenges with pain management using decision-making practices that could disrupt women's expectations, undermine women's trust, demonstrate disrespect for women and rely on inadequate communication. Women who felt dependent on others were less likely to participate in decision-making. When care providers' perceptions about pain differed from women's reports of pain, participants became distressed because care providers did not acknowledge their subjective pain experiences.

Women regarded their relationships and communication with care providers as foundational to relational autonomy in decision-making about pain management during childbirth.

Study findings can support care providers' considerations of the complexity of childbirth pain and factors affecting women's relational autonomy in decision-making about pain. In particular, the findings highlight the importance of women's expectations and care providers' recognition of women's experiences of pain.

Women who shared their stories of childbirth pain contributed to the data collected. The chief nursing officers in the data collection setting facilitated the recruitment and data collection.