Resistance and Relearning: Women’s Experiences Choosing Midwifery and Home Birth in Ontario, Canada

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56105/cjsae.v27i3.3902

Keywords:

Adult Learning, Midwifery, Home Birth, Women's Childbirth Decision-Making, Women's Health

Abstract

Using a critical feminist approach, and with attention to participants’ broad life experiences, this qualitative study explores seven women’s learning in their challenging, transformative decisions to give birth at home with midwives in Ontario, Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women who had recently planned midwife-attended home births to shed light on how they learned about these childbirth possibilities and gained the confidence to plan a home birth. Participants’ narratives revealed that to make these choices, they had to become active and informed decision-makers, and resist the dominant view of birth as inherently risky, and of women’s birth experiences as unimportant and incompatible with the birth of a healthy baby. Replacing myths and misconceptions about midwifery, and especially about home birth, with more current and evidence-based information was critical to participants’ resistance and relearning, as were their own life experiences and those of women they trusted. 

Author Biography

Shawna Healey DiFilippo, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto

Master of Arts, 2014

Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education

References

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Published

2015-06-30

How to Cite

DiFilippo, S. H. (2015). Resistance and Relearning: Women’s Experiences Choosing Midwifery and Home Birth in Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 27(3), 43–63. https://doi.org/10.56105/cjsae.v27i3.3902