Rural Women’s Experiences of Maternity Care: Implications for Policy and Practice

This research investigated rural maternity care from the perspective of parturient women, care providers, health care administrators and local leaders. We found that women’s experiences were bound in the complexity of relationships that were influenced by the attitudes and actions of care providers and the organization of health system services. The study took place within a dynamically changing health care environment in which three of the four study sites ceased offering birthing services during the course of the project. The lack of clearly defined policies supporting rural maternity care was reflected in a tenuous infrastructure for local birthing. This left local services vulnerable to the vagaries of practitioner’s attitudes, critical incidents, the variable social and historical context of the community and geography. Literature on risk assessment provides a lens through which some of the findings may be interpreted.