Healthcare professionals and mothers’ experiences of compassion and trauma in maternity and perinatal services

Abstract

The perinatal period can be a vulnerable time for women, both physically and psychologically. For a considerable amount of time, much of the responsibility for the wellbeing of the family is the responsibility of maternity or perinatal professionals, such as midwives or obstetricians. Whilst many families have positive experiences of birth and the periods of time surrounding this, recent enquiry into women’s experiences of perinatal care highlight the potential for negative, and at times traumatic experiences of care, with up to 5% of women developing PTSD after giving birth. This thesis aims to further understand the impact of trauma on the perinatal system and how this may be impacting professionals and mothers in the help seeking dynamic.
Alongside a reflexive account, Chapter One outlines the impact of trauma on maternity and perinatal systems as a whole, capturing the impact of trauma on mothers, families, professionals and wider organisations. The chapter introduces the concept of trauma informed care in perinatal services and outlines how successful implementation of this can be improved by taking a compassionate approach to further understanding the needs of both mothers and the professionals supporting them.
Chapter Two provides a systematic review of compassion and compassion related variables in maternity and obstetric care. The review provides pooled-means of the levels of Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress alongside a narrative review of individual and workplace factors related to levels of compassion.
Chapter Three explores women’s experiences of help-seeking following a traumatic birth with the aim of further understanding how the interactions they experienced during their birth impact their help-seeking and interactions with the NHS following birth. Five themes are presented; 1) Help seeking as a battle, 2) ‘The machine is still a machine’, 3) Women’s wellbeing should be fundamental to maternity and perinatal care, 4) Compassion is key, 5) Specialist psychological support is needed, and discussed in the context of models of help-seeking and the perinatal context.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Nicola Travis: orcid.org/0009-0004-5974-5557

ORCID for Pete Lawrence: orcid.org/0000-0001-6181-433X

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