This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Bergstrom, L. Articles by Roberts, J. E. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bergstrom, L. Articles by Roberts, J. E. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Caregivers Family Issues Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Birth Talk in Second Stage Labor

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Lori Richards

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Adele Proctor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA

Leticia Bohrer Avila

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA

Janice M. Morse

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Joyce E. Roberts

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

In this secondary analysis of videotape data, we describe birth talk demonstrated by caregivers to women during the second stage of labor. Birth talk is a distinctive verbal register or a set of linguistic features that are used with particular behaviors during specific situations, has a particular communication purpose, and is characterized by distinctive language features. Birth talk is found cross-culturally among speakers of diverse languages. Our findings show that birth talk occurred mainly during contractions and co-occurred with two general styles of caregiving: "directed toward forced bearing down" and "supportive of physiologic bearing down." We also describe talk that occurred during rest periods, which was similar across the two styles. Caregivers' use of language tended to be either procedural (giving directions, instructions) or comfort related (encouraging and supporting). Linguistic features of the talk consisted of utterances of short duration, level pitch patterns with no sudden pitch shifts, and a restricted pitch range.

Key Words: caregiving • childbirth • communication • nurse-patient • conversation analysis • linguistics • midwifery • nursing • maternity

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 19, No. 7, 954-964 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732309338613


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?