I was hoping to find something extremely connected to my research proposal for the last research example. I have found it really helpful to see how other studies similar to mine had conducted research so I can get ideas. I ended up finding an article in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth called “Why do some women choose to freebirth in the UK? An interpretative phenomenological study” by Claire Feeley and Gill Thomson. The topic of the article was freebirth and the question asked why women in the United Kingdom choose to have a freebirth. Freebirth is when a woman gives birth to her baby with no professionals present. I honestly had no idea that this was something that women in developed countries did by choice, and it was pretty shocking to learn that it is preferred by some women. The type of data needed for the study was deep opinions and attitudes, and the data was gathered with a survey and then in-depth interviews. In the end, the data was analyzed with  phenomenological data analysis and coding of interviews. This article is a primary literature source.

The researchers posted advertisements for the study at freebirth education centers to recruit subjects. They gave the members of the study an initial questionnaire and then they had in-depth interviews to get more information. The study was successful in discovering some reasons why women in the United Kingdom choose to have a freebirth. Most of the women from the study made the decision based on their personal situation and previous experiences with childbirth. The study concluded that these women did not trust the childbirth system in the United Kingdom and wanted to take care of it themselves.

Since I had never heard of freebirth before, I thought it was an extremely fascinating study that could also be helpful with my research project. I wish they interviewed some women who had not given birth before and had other reasons for choosing a freebirth.

Citation:

I found a study in The Journal of Perinatal Education titled “Understanding Factors that Influence Adolescent Mothers’ Doula Use: A Qualitative Study” by Dr. Sheryl Coley and Dr. Tracy R. Nichols. The study is primary literature and is peer-reviewed.

The article explained a study that was done in order to understand why adolescent women chose to have a doula present at the birth of their child. The research question was asking what factors women report to influence their decision to have a doula present when they give birth to their children. The 20 adolescent women who were a part of the study were  nineteen-years-old or younger at the Young Women’s Christian Association. There were also 6 practicing doulas who were a part of the study. The type of data needed was deep opinions and attitudes. The data was gathered through interviews, focus groups, and field observations. At the end of the study, the data was coded in order to review all answers and observations. The results helped the researchers understand factors that influenced doula use, and also reasons why women are against the use of a doula. The young expecting-mothers appreciated that the doula was there for them through every step of their pregnancy, and even after it. The main conclusion of the study was that since doulas create such a strong relationship with their clients during and after pregnancy, young mothers are more likely to be in favor of hiring them.

The Young Women’s Christian Association in the area where the study was conducted has programs for expecting mothers where they meet and talk to doulas in order to be fully informed about the different options that they have. I really appreciate that these young women were presented with the option of having a doula present at the birth of their children because many women are unaware of the options that they have. I think it is really important for women to know all of their childbirth options before they make a decision so that they can hopefully have the best experience possible.

Citation:

Coley, Sheryl L., DrP.H. and Tracy R. Nichols PhD. 2016. “Understanding Factors that Influence Adolescent Mothers’ Doula use: A Qualitative Study.” The Journal of Perinatal Education 25(1):46-55 (http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/1805376631?accountid=14729). doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/10.1891/1058-1243.25.1.46.

I found an article from BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, a peer-reviewed journal that has articles about different studies related to pregnancy and childbirth. The article is called “Exploration of Perceptions and Decision-Making Processes Related to Childbirth in Rural Sierra Leone” and it is by Laura Treacy and Mette Sagbakken. The article explains a study that was done in rural Sierra Leone to understand how women decide how to give birth. The topic of the article is childbirth decisions in rural areas, and the research question is asking how women and their communities in rural Sierra Leone make decisions about childbirth. The article is primary literature. 

The type of data needed for this study is deep opinions and attitudes. The data was collected from focus groups and interviews. The researchers maintained diaries while in the field that recorded observed data in order to help formulate interview questions and later find social patterns. All of the data was analyzed in tables to compare different views.

The study concluded that the women of Sierra Leone have very complicated ways of making decisions about childbirth, and that they are all quite different. The study also concluded that women make their decisions with their community as opposed to on their own, which I found very fascinating.

The study is very helpful for my own research. Since it is so similar to my research proposal it was helpful to read something that could potentially guide my research design. I appreciate that all of the possible ethical conflicts and concerns were disclosed at the end of the study, because working with focus groups and interviews can definitely bring up ethical issues. I also appreciate that this study was done in a small, rural area because it shed light on a place that many people probably do not know much about. I like learning more about how women make these decisions in different parts of the world.

Citation:

Treacy, Laura and Mette Sagbakken. 2015. “Exploration of Perceptions and Decision-Making Processes Related to Childbirth in Rural Sierra Leone.” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth15(87).

It was much easier to find articles that related to my topic when I did the search online. Although I found it easier to read the printed journals, I was thrilled to finally be able to explore my topic more specifically. I found an article in the Infant Mental Health Journal titled “Birth and Motherhood: Childbirth Experience and Mothers’ Perceptions of themselves and their Babies” by Samantha Reisz, Deborah Jacobvitz, and Carol George. The topic that the article covered was childbirth experience, and the question the study hoped to answer was whether or not the childbirth experience had an influence on mothers’ descriptions of their children and their confidence in raising them.

The type of data that was needed for the study was shallow opinions and attitudes, which were gathered from surveys. The researchers asked mothers what kind of delivery they had (cesarean or vaginal), and if it was a good or bad experience. Mothers were then asked to describe their children and to say how confident they feel about how they are raising their child. In order to analyze the data, the researchers used Mplus and looked for correlations in the data from the questionnaires. The study is secondary literature, as the researchers used other studies to help create their methods. The study concluded that vaginal birth leads to a more positive description of the child and that the delivery mode did not have any impact on mothering confidence but the childbirth experience did. 

I think this was a good article and it conduced good research that was presented straightforwardly. There were lots of factors to take into account when performing the study like potential bias women may have about childbirth, or different class issues that may come up. It seems as though these variables were considered when conducting the research because they are described in the study. It would be interesting to now do a study about the different factors that could change the results.

Citation:

Reisz, S., Jacobvitz, D. and George, C. (2015), “Birth and Motherhood: Childbirth Experience and Mothers’ Perceptions of Themselves and their Babies”. Infant Mental Health Journal, 36: 167–178. doi:10.1002/imhj.21500

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.redlands.edu/doi/10.1002/imhj.21500/full

I was not able to find an article in a printed scholarly journal that directly related to my topic (birthing decisions), but I found an article in The Journal of Educational Psychology that seemed appropriate enough since it is about parenting.  The article is titled “The Differential Impact of Early Father and Mother Involvement on Later Student Achievement”, and it is by Brent A. McBride, W. Justin Dyer, Ying Liu, Geoffrey L. Brown, and Sungjin Hong. The topic of the article is student success. The article explains a study that was conducted in order to determine if there is a relationship between parenting in the early stages of a child’s life and their success in the future, as well as parents involvement in their child’s future schooling. The first part of the study was to understand how involved parents were in their children’s life, and the second part of the study analyzed test scores from the schools. The type of data needed for the first part of this study was reports of acts, behavior, or events, and it was collected through questionnaires. The type of data that was needed for the second part of the study was organizational data, which was collected with private and public records. All of the data was analyzed with a program called Mplus to see if there was a correlation between parental involvement and student success.

In the questionnaires, parents were asked how often they engage with their children and their activities, the limits they set for their children, how affectionate they are with them, as well as how often they participate in school activities (e.g. volunteering, parent-teacher meetings, etc.) on a 0-5 point scale. Data about student success was gathered from the CDS (Child Development Services) standardized test scores. All of the gathered data was compared in tables. The study concluded that parental involvement in early life and school life does effect student success.

I think the study was fascinating, however I wish there was more information from the parents. Instead of having the parents answer the questionnaires on a 0-5 scale, it would have been interesting to have more detailed information. However it would be difficult with the amount of people that were involved in the study.

This article is primary literature.

Citation:

Mcbride, Brent A., W. Justin Dyer, Ying Liu, Geoffrey L. Brown, and Sungjin Hong. 2009. “The Differential Impact of Early Father and Mother Involvement on Later Student Achievement.” Journal of Educational Psychology volume 101(2). 498-508.

After a long search through the printed journals at Armacost Library, I was unfortunately unable to find anything that directly focused on my topic (natural childbirth). However, I was able to find an article in the Journal of Applied Psychology, a peer-reviewed journal that the library has a small stack of, that had a study about the correlation between motherhood and employment. The article is titled “Motherhood: A Potential Source of Bias in Employment Decisions” by Madeline E. Heilman and Tyler G. Okimoto. The topic of the study was mothers in the workforce, and the research question was asking whether or not the gender stereotypes about mothers interfere with their potential promotion in the workforce. The type of data that was needed for the study was shallow opinions and attitudes. The way that this data was collected was through questionnaires, and the data was analyzed by comparing the results from them.

The first experiment was done with a group of undergraduate students from an introductory psychology course, and the second was done with MBA students who were also full-time employees of businesses. These students were given limited information about four people who were supposedly applying for promotions: one mother, one father, one male (with no children), and one female (with no children). Based on the information given about each candidate, these students had to decide who would be the best fit for the job. The study concluded that the bias due to stereotypes toward motherhood does inhibit the advancement of women in the workforce.

The topic and question are interesting, but I think that the study could have been done in a better way. It would have been fascinating to interview some of the participants of the study to see why they felt the way that they did, and what lead them to make their hiring decision, rather than just getting the numbers.

The article:

Heilman, Madeline E. and Tyler G. Okimoto. 2008. “Motherhood: A Potential Source of Bias in Employment Decisions.” The Journal of Applied Psychology volume 93(1). 189-198.