Childbirth is widely acknowledged as one of the most painful experiences most women will undergo in their lifetimes. Alleviating labor and delivery pain for women with physical disabilities can involve an additional level of complexity beyond that experienced by most women, but little research has explored their experiences.
The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of women with physical disabilities with respect to pain relief during labor and delivery with the goal of informing their care.
Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with twenty-five women with physical disabilities from across the United States.
Women expressed specific preferences for the method of pain relief. Some confronted systemic barriers in exploring their options for pain relief, while others were given a choice. At times, anesthesiologists lacked knowledge and experience in caring for women with disabilities. Conversely, some women described how the administration of anesthesia was meticulously planned and attributed their positive labor and delivery experiences to this careful planning.
Advanced, individualized planning and evaluation of their options for pain relief was most satisfying to women and enabled them to make an informed choice. This approach is consistent with the recommendations of clinicians who have successfully provided pain relief during labor to women with complex physical disabilities. Clinicians who have successfully delivered babies of women with these and similar disabilities emphasize the importance of a team approach where the anesthesiologist and other specialists are involved early on in a woman's care.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 05 April 2018.
All research outputs
#22,764,772
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from Disability and Health Journal
#816
of 855 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#284,669
of 324,628 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Disability and Health Journal
#26
of 28 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 855 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.4. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 28 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
