What women want if they were to have another baby : the Australian Birth Experience Study (BESt) cross-sectional national survey

Hazel Keedle, Risharda Lockwood, Warren Keedle, Daniella Susic, Hannah G. Dahlen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objectives To explore if Australian women would do anything differently if they were to have another baby. Design and setting The Birth Experience Study (BESt) online survey explored pregnancy, birth and postnatal experiences for women who had given birth during 2016-2021 in Australia. Participants In 2021, 8804 women responded to the BESt survey and 6101 responses to the open text responses to the survey question â 'Would you do anything different if you were to have another baby?' were analysed using inductive content analysis. Results A total of 6101 women provided comments in response to the open text question, resulting in 10 089 items of coding. Six categories were found: â 'Next time I'll be ready' (3958, 39.2%) described how women reflected on their previous experience, feeling the need to better advocate for themselves in the future to receive the care or experience they wanted; â 'I want a specific birth experience' (2872, 28.5%) and â 'I want a specific model of care' (1796, 17.8%) highlighted the types of birth and health provider women would choose for their next pregnancy. â 'I want better access' (294, 2.9%) identified financial and/or geographical constraints women experience trying to make choices for birth. Two categories included comments from women who said â 'I don't want to change anything' (1027, 10.2%) and â 'I don't want another pregnancy' (142, 1.4%). Most women birthed in hospital (82.9%) and had a vaginal birth (59.2%) and 26.7% had a caesarean. Conclusion Over 85% of comments left by women in Australia were related to making different decisions regarding their next birth choices. Most concerningly women often blamed themselves for not being more informed. Women realised the benefits of continuity of care with a midwife. Many women also desired a vaginal birth as well as better access to birthing at home.

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages13
JournalBMJ Open
Volume13
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Sept 2023

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This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

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