Women’s interest in birth centre care – is it time to make more options available?

Introduction
Birth centers, otherwise known as midwife-led units, midwifery units, are designed for women in physiological pregnancy, who would like to give birth in a possibly natural way. This type of care offers homelike environment, with basic medical equipment on-site.

Aim of the research
To explore women’s preferences regarding an alternative model of perinatal care in birth centers.

Material and methods
A two-phase study was used. In this exploratory descriptive study quantitative data were collected by anonymous questionnaire from 153 women in Poland from January 2017 to May 2017. A sample of women of childbearing age from various parts of Poland were recruited via the Internet and in-person.

Results
Almost 79% of respondents declared their interest in giving birth in a natural rhythm led by a midwife. From the group potentially interested in giving birth in a birthing centre 41.2% of respondents fully agreed with the statement “Physiological birth in the home is a safe alternative to giving birth in the hospital”, and 23.5% of the respondents from the same group agreed with the above statement partially. All aspects that are the domains of midwife-led care in birth centres, such as the use of non-pharmacological pain relief, one-to-one midwife care during delivery, and intimate homelike surroundings, were important for over 70% of respondents.

Conclusions
Women show interest in birth centre care during the perinatal period. Introducing birth centres into perinatal care for women in a physiological pregnancy with low risk of complications may match their needs.