MW7002 Sharing the Woman's Experience - Social Theory and Birth (5 ECTS)

 

Learning Outcomes

Following completion of this module the student should be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to listen to the woman and hear her experience;
  
• Value the realities of women and their families' experiences;
  
• Begin to identify women's support networks;
  
• Begin to identify the needs of different family forms and the supports available to them;
  
• Discuss the provision of health care, in particular primary and maternity care, and its relationship to women, families and communities;
  
• Discuss the choices for maternity care in Ireland;
  
• Begin to demonstrate an understanding of childbirth as a normal healthy life event;
  
• Discuss society's views of childbirth, motherhood and parenting and the values it places on these;
  
• Begin to demonstrate the ability to negotiate an effective partnership with the woman.

Module Learning Aims & Rationale

The organisation of maternity care in Ireland and, in particular, the delivery of midwifery led care, is such that exposing the midwifery student to the concept of continuity of care/carer is limited in the environment of a tertiary obstetric referral maternity hospital. The aim of this module is to attempt to provide the midwifery student with an opportunity to share and listen to one woman's experience of her pregnancy, birth and postnatal period. It is envisaged that this experience will provide the student with a social perspective in which pregnancy and birth take place. Whilst every assistance will be given to the student in meeting a woman, the responsibility then rests with the student to negotiate, in partnership with the woman, the accomplishment of the goals of this unit of learning.

Recommended Reading List

Indicative Resources

• Begley C. M. and Devane D. (2003) The invisible woman: maternity care in Ireland. The Practising Midwife 5, 10.
  
• Begley C. M. and Devane D. (2003) The re-birth of midwifery-led care in Ireland. The Practising Midwife 6, 26-29.
  
• Davis-Floyd R. (2002) The technocratic, humanistic, and holistic paradigms of childbirth. IN MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 12 (4), 500-506.
  
• Davis-Floyd R., Barclay L., Daviss B-A. and Tritten J. (2009) Birth Models That Work. University of California, Berkeley.
  
• Edwards N. (1998) What is -Normal Care'? AIMS Quarterly Journal 9 (2), 8-11.
  
• Edwards N. (2004) Why can't women just say no? and does it really matter? In Informed Choice in Maternity Care (Kirkham M., ed), Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hamshire.
  
• Edwards N. (2005) Birthing Autonomy: Women's Experiences of Planning Home Births. Routledge, London.
  Edwards N. and Murphy-Lawless J. (2006) Women's perspectives on risk and safety in birth. In Risk and Choice in Maternity Care (Symon A., ed), Elsevier, Edinburgh.
  
• Kennedy P. (2002) Maternity in Ireland: A Woman Centred Perspective. The Liffey Press, Dublin. - Chapters 2, 4, 5 and 6 in particular
  
• Kennedy P. (2004) Motherhood in Ireland. Mercier press, Dublin. - Chapter 5 in particular
• Oaks L. (2002) `Abortion is part of the Irish experience, it is part of what we are:' the transformation of public discourses on Irish abortion policy. Women's Studies International Forum 25(3), 315-333.
  
• Simonds W., Rothman B.K. and Melzer B. (2006) Laboring On: Birth in Transition. Routledge, London.
  
• Squire C., (ed.) (2003) The Social Context of Birth. Radcliffe, Oxford.
  
• Stewart M. (2004) Pregnancy, Birth and Maternity Care: Feminist Perspectives. Books for Midwives, Edinburgh.
  
• Symonds A. and Hunt S.C. (1996) The Midwife and Society: Perspectives, Policies and Practice. MacMillan, Basingstoke.
  

* Additional readings will be given for each unit of learning.