Cassandra Yuill
Dr Cassandra Yuill, Ph.D. is a medical anthropologist, specializing in maternal health. Her research focuses on health decision-making, particularly about maternity care, in the United Kingdom. Her key interests include place of birth, interaction of policy and maternity services, and midwifery-led care. She is currently a Research Fellow in the Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research at City, University of London
What are women’s experiences of decision-making and choice about their pregnancy and birth care?
Shared decision-making and informed choice, which involve patients in guiding the course of their care, are an area of growing interest in health care. However, despite recognition of their importance, they have not often been prioritized in research. In this blog post, the author of a new qualitative synthesis, published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, discusses the burden of choice and the conceptual model the paper presents for understanding women’s experiences of shared decision-making and informed choice in pregnancy and birth care.
‘Choice’ has increasingly become a fundamental aspect of Western public health policy and practice since the late 20th century. For maternity care, it is a buzzword that has generated a growing body of research around how to best support decision-making and achieve informed choice among women. However, promoting more service user autonomy and care experiences that are aligned with personal values can lead to complex trade-offs, as choices are based on more sophisticated, expanding services with less reliance on a clinician’s intuitive judgment. While sometimes maternity care professionals believe they are offering choice, in reality, women still have a limited role in decision-making and do not feel their care is presented as a choice.
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