Artigo de Periódico
Users’ and providers’ perspectives on technological procedures for ‘normal’childbirth in a public maternity hospital in Salvador, Brazil
Fecha
2008Registro en:
1606-7916
v. 50, n. 1.
Autor
McCallum, Cecília Anne
Reis, Ana Paula dos
McCallum, Cecília Anne
Reis, Ana Paula dos
Institución
Resumen
Objective. To reveal the effect of cultural practices on the way in which normal birth is conducted in a public hospital in Brazil. Material and Methods. This article about a public maternity hospital in Salvador, Brazil, compares the points of view of providers and users on four technological normal childbirth procedures: trichotomy, episiotomy, oxytocin infusion, and epidural analgesia. Fieldwork carried out from
2002 to 2003 combined qualitative and quantitative methods. Results. Institutional practices make childbirth unnecessarily
difficult for women. Nonetheless, most women accept the conditions because the medical procedures make sense according to their cultural understandings. Service providers
support the use of such procedures, although doctors are aware that they contradict recommendations found in scientific medical literature. This article argues that from the
perspective of both providers and users, the technological procedures are infused with a culturally specific set of meanings and values. Conclusions. Policymakers must address the cultural understandings of both users and health care professionals in order to improve maternal healthcare in public hospitals in Brazil.