Factors influencing multiparous women who choose a home birth - an exploratory study

This is the second article in a two-part series exploring the factors that influence multiparous women to chose to birth at home after a previous hospital birth. The first article examined existing research in the area (Ashely and Weaver, 2012). This paper will discuss a phenomenological study using tape-recorded semi-structured interviews with eight multiparous women who chose a home birth after a previous hospital birth. The transcribed data were analysed using a modified version of Colaizzi's (1978) seven-step phenomenological method. The factors that influenced women could be separated into four themes: the midwives' role, the experience of home birth, the consideration of risk associated with home, and issues regarding the control of birth. The decision to home birth is highly individualised and complex, with an extensive array of influencing factors, which include both positive and negative previous birth experiences, as well as life experience and the influence of others