Inclusive birth supporters’ space and recovery care in the postnatal hospital environment

Abstract

The social and emotional dimensions of childbirth and recovery suggest the inclusion of partners and childbirth supporters’ to facilitate the recovery phase of new mothers while in hospitals but the postnatal environment currently appears largely to ignore the role of women’s childbirth supporters or families. The aim of this paper is to identify specific design features for enabling and enhancing the birth supporters’ role in the hospital postnatal environment. An on-line questionnaire survey complemented with focus group interviews with women and midwives was used to determine the physical design features for birth support-centred spaces in New Zealand hospitals, The findings revealed a disconnect in appreciation of the role of childbirth supporters even though participants found the need for an inclusive total environment both for birth supporters and new mothers yet there were hindrances due to existing hospital policies. These issues suggest a need to increase facilitation of the role of supporters in the postnatal environment. A range of design features for fostering inclusiveness for birth supporters is provided. The integration of more supportive family spaces can potentially engender recovery, while also fostering improved competencies in new mothers.