Seven Layers of Skin: The Practice of Childbirth in the Context of High Cesarean Section Rates in Brazil
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This research explores the experience of childbirth in the context of high cesarean sections rates in Brazil. Ethnographic methods were used to collect data through interviews and narrative theory served as analytical tool. Through descriptions of events experienced by the women interviewed, this study has shown that the practice of childbirth in Brazil happens within a biomedical view of the body. The practices experienced by the women and the policies promoted by the Brazilian government evidence a strong influence in the way birth is carried out in the country, embedded in concepts developed in the last century, namely the medicalization critique and the natural childbirth movement. Feminist movements in Brazil are described as having an effect in consolidating these concepts within the government and society at large. Humanization as it is promoted in Brazil explicates a movement towards de-medicalization of the birth event. This process was analyzed as having both benefits and drawbacks. The findings of this research provide relevant insights into addressing the way childbirth is carried out in Brazil, bringing new perspectives to how we are to approach health care towards pregnant and birthing women.
Author: Carolina Borges Rau Steuernagel
Language: English
Subfield: Obstetrics and Gynecology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2229266419