Table 3.
Coding system
| Topics | Categories | Sub-categories |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment of care | Indicators of positive care | The progressive acquaintance allows one to establish a relationship of trust and help |
| Personalized care | ||
| Continuity of care considered reassuring | ||
| Presence of a reference point | ||
| Focus on positive elements and on childbirth physiology | ||
| Organization of the caring path | ||
| Assistance provided at home involving the family | ||
| Professional network facilitating access to other caring paths | ||
| Indicators of negative care | Improper and superficial care | |
| Lack of continuity of care | ||
| Not enough time | ||
| Midwife’s unavailability during weekends | ||
| Assistance by telephone | ||
| Communication assessment | Indicators of positive communication | Continuous and immediate availability of staff |
| Clear and accurate communication | ||
| Indicators of negative communication | Absent or contradictory information | |
| Non-immediate availability of staff | ||
| Inadequacy of e-mail communication | ||
| How caring is perceived | Indicators of good caring | Listening to and supporting women, providing holistic care |
| Freedom to share thoughts, concerns and emotions | ||
| Indicators of lack of caring | Lack of support, help and empathy | |
| Lack of consideration for the woman’s experience | ||
| Emotional experiences of mother-to-be | Positive emotional experiences | Feeling understood, accompanied and fully taken care of |
| Feeling comfortable | ||
| Negative emotional experiences | Concerns about child’s or one’s own health condition | |
| Concerns related to motherhood | ||
| Thoughts of mother-to-be | Self-awareness and beliefs | Right to the best possible care |
| Need for assistance even in case of interruption of pregnancy | ||
| Importance to consider the psychological and emotional dimensions as well as the physical one | ||
| Maternal well-being is reflected in the child well-being | ||
| Needs and desires | Being fully taken care of, on a physical and emotional level | |
| Maintaining continuity of care during and after childbirth | ||
| Receive accurate and scientific information | ||
| Non-medicalized motherhood | ||
| Devote time to pregnancy | ||
| Greater number of meetings with the midwife | ||
| The decision-making process | Possibility and impossibility of choice | Be allowed to choose the midwife who provides assistance |
| Regret not to have the chosen midwife next to her during childbirth | ||
| Sorry for not having the partner beside her | ||
| Keeping options in view | The information received allows one to know the possible alternatives | |
| Feeling for an alternative, a possibility of choice | ||
| The process of change | Changes perceived by the mother | Acquiring information and new skills |
| Greater self-confidence and perception of being more ready | ||
| Greater peace of mind and self-consciousness | ||
| Listening to and legitimizing one’s own needs |