Women's experience of episiotomy: a qualitative study from China.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To describe women's experience of episiotomy in urban China.

Design

This is a semistructured, indepth interview with women after episiotomy. We analysed transcriptions using thematic analysis in Chinese. Emerging themes were debated in English to finalise interpretation.

Setting

Two community health centres and four hospitals in Shanghai, China.

Participants

Purposive sampling of 30 postpartum women who had experienced episiotomy; 25 were primiparous and 4 had deliveries by forceps. We interviewed health providers to complement the data.

Results

We identified four main themes: (1) women's views of the procedure vary considerably; (2) pain interferes with daily life for weeks; (3) long-term anxiety is a consequence for some, described as a 'psyc

SUBMITTER: He S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7371141 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature