Childbirth Experience and Pain Control: Expectation, Satisfaction, and Analgesia Myths.

Background: In our days, increasing importance has been given to maternal satisfaction as a quality indicator in healthcare services. A positive childbirth experience should meet a woman's personal and sociocultural beliefs and expectations in every setting. This study aimed to evaluate childbirth experience regarding expectations, satisfaction, and myths around epidural analgesia.

Methodology: A cross-sectional survey designed was carried out in the Obstetric Department of a public hospital in Madeira-Portugal. A well-structured questionnaire was applied to 101 post-partum women covering aspects such as sociodemographic details, childbirth expectations, overall satisfaction, and prevailing myths. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) was used for data analysis.

Results: From the total of 101 participants, 32 (31%) women belonged to the 31-35 age group. Among the respondents, 58 (57%) had attained a high school diploma. The results showed that there was a positive experience with childbirth; out of the total women, 79 (78%) considered it exceeded their expectations. The majority of pregnant women (93, 92%) received neuraxial analgesia for labor, reporting the experience as good or excellent. The overall satisfaction related to the birth experience was good or excellent for 88 (87%) women. Regarding the myths, education level was significantly associated with the myth  (< 0.05), since women with higher education don't believe them.

Conclusions: The result of this study proves that, despite the high level of satisfaction with the labor and delivery experience found in our maternity unit, satisfaction remains a complex and dynamic phenomenon.