1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The aim of this interdisciplinary study was to compare the childbirth spiritual experiences of mothers and fathers, and to correlate a spirituality score with different sociodemographic and birth medical data.» (p. 2)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’étude est basée sur la participation de 200 parents ayant donné naissance à un enfant au Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke. Les parents ont participé à l’étude 12 heures après un accouchement vaginal, et 24 heures après un accouchement par césarienne.

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

Results of the survey show «a generally positive score for both parents. Affirmative answers to specific statements touching on the ''appreciation of life’s beauty”, “respect'', ''moral responsibility'', and ''gratitude'' reveal the strong positive spiritual potential of childbirth in someone’s life. [They also reveal that] this positive potential can be even higher for some mothers, specifically those with a religious affiliation or born outside of Canada. These results point out the relevance of “spirituality” as an object of study in regions like Quebec where religious practice has largely diminished but where spiritual beliefs have diversified. We were surprised by the percentage of parents praying in the delivery room, a high number in the Quebec context.» (p. 7) «This study is also the first to measure fathers’ spirituality in the delivery room, thus allowing a comparison with the mother’s experience. Three themes largely account for why mothers’ global scores were higher than fathers’ scores: ''letting go'', ''self-accomplishment'', and ''meaningfulness''. Our qualitative data indicate that this might be related to the role fathers perceive they must play, where their contribution is perceived as one of active support for the mother.» (p. 7)