Nurses' Role in the Birth Experience: An Integrative Review

Intrapartum nurses are integral to the birth experience, yet their unique influence on this patient-reported outcome is not clear. The purpose of this review is to synthesize and highlight characteristics and practices of intrapartum nursing care associated with the birth experience.

A search was conducted in February and March 2024 in CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus with keywords birth experience, birth satisfaction, and nurse. Publication date was unrestricted, as no similar review was identified. Original, peer-reviewed publications in English were included. Publications that explored mediators of the birth experience, made unclear associations, or validated instruments were excluded. The Johns Hopkins Research Evidence Appraisal Tool was used for quality assessment. Findings were presented through Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Twenty-five publications were included. They were published between 1989 and 2021 and present national and international data on a range of birth experience outcomes. Most publications were good or high quality. Characteristics and practices of intrapartum nursing care associated with the birth experience were those that fulfilled patients' physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization needs throughout labor and birth.

Fulfilled needs set the stage for positive birth experiences, whereas unfulfilled needs were associated with negative birth experiences. Findings can be used to support intrapartum nurses in optimizing birth experience outcomes.