Birthing Environment around the world | The Birth Space: An occupational therapy perspective

If you have read our post about the questionnaires that were the onset of or research for our virtual placement project, you are aware of the themes that came up from the analysis of our service user’s responses – Interviews with birthing mothers.

As we’re all occupational therapy students, the environment is without a doubt a key and vital aspect for many of the occupational therapy interventions in the diverse areas of health care. The name of the project Birth space also helped this focus on the environment obviously. We decided to look deeper into research to try to find articles and papers where the importance of the environment for birth space had the so-known, positive outcomes, and experiences.

We all know that hospital birth room where the bed is in the middle, artificial lights on, a cot by the bed, all the technologic equipment surrounding the bed, a little sink or an ensuite bathroom (if you’re lucky) and possibly windows to the exterior (or not!). Based on the interview responses, this was a typical birth room described by older women (over 40’s/50’s mainly, like my mum, when she had me). These rooms were associated with the general thinking/sayings of “just get on with it”, “keep calm and carry on” or a “stiff upper lip” reminder, where women are expected to just do what they are meant to do in that space so they can leave hospital soon and where the environment, during those times, was something that did not have any importance for these women. Well, we all know that this is changing currently, maternity units are being transformed and refurbished, birth centres are rising around the world and birth plans help the preparation and creation of a more suitable birth space. In the recent mothers’ interview responses (women in their 20-40’s), they described the use and respect of their birth plan during labour, the use of multisensory resources for stress-free, and more relaxed experiences. We can now see how maternity care is changing and turning into a more holistic, client-centred care as it should!

Different women experience different things during labour, and each woman will have a sensory preference to enhance a calm, tranquil, and relaxed state of mind, focusing their energy in the process of birth and what’s happening with her.

The article we’re sharing with you today is about the adaptation of a birth room for a spontaneous labour start – Room4Birth – the effect of an adaptable birthing room on labour and birth outcomes for nulliparous women at term with spontaneous labour start: study protocol for a randomised controlled superiority trial in Sweden

This study is a randomised controlled trial in Sweden, measuring and comparing the effects and experiences of two types of birthing rooms. The 2 types of birthing rooms used in this study were: A regular birthing room (control group) vs a newly built birthing room designed with a person-centred approach and multisensory resources (such as light, silencer, media installation offering programmed nature scenes with sound, bathtub, birth support tools) that are changeable according to a woman’s wishes (intervention group).

From our occupational therapy lens, where a client-centred approach is the core of our work and interventions, the results are obvious. These results could be transferred immediately to clinical practice, as the adaptation of a room, this client-centred care and the use of a different range of multisensory resources and equipment will have a positive impact on every birthing experience.

Although many of the studies researched regarding birth space and the importance of the environment for better birth outcome were developed in European countries, most countries still have a long way to go in terms of the creation of better and more suitable birth spaces. One example is Portugal, where birth centres are not a thing yet. Through social media searches and due to being a Portuguese speaker, I was able to identify and follow many Instagram pages (didoandcompany), where women share their experiences, references from other countries, movies, and films to educate more and more women and the public in general.

The reality of birth around the world is terrifying once you start to read/listen and watch videos, films, books, and social media posts. We would like to share a range of resources with you. From birth spaces and birth realities around the world to midwifery care and roles, birth options, and the power of choice and presence and importance of partners. Hopefully, these links will give you a better picture of the birthing world and in which way we should focus our practices towards a more natural, physiological and salutogenetic birth, educated and informed choices, and respectful of women’s bodies, choices, and wishes:

For my Portuguese-speaking friends and mothers, do have a look at the videos below. They are all about the amazing birth centres, the new facilities, resources, and support they provide for low-risk birthing mothers during birth. Look at how some of these environments mimic a spa type or nature retreat, where calmness, tranquillity, and relaxation are key and vital for better outcomes during birth:

By Raquel Caninas de Freitas, August 2020

Time to reflect… considerations for the future.

Birthing mothers: How can I advocate for what I want for my labour? Who is out there to provide me with relevant information and recommendations, seeing me as a “whole” and not just my baby?

Health care professionals: How can we best support birthing mothers, their individualities, choices and needs? How can we prevent obstetric violence situation to happen under our supervision and care? How can we turn the midwifery care practices toward a client-centred and holistic approach?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply