Representation of parturient about the labor pain

Abstract

This study focused to know the representations of parturient about the labor pain. It also represents the concept of representation, discussing the pain on childbirth as historically linked to something intolerable and physically painful. The research was conducted in Humanised Childbirth Unit of a Public Maternity of Natal / RN, during a month on 2007. The subjects were 19 parturient from their second pregnancy that were in the active phase of labor. The data were collected through interviews, which were recorded and analyzed with content analysis technique, specifically, the thematic analysis by categories. The results confirmed that the representations about the labor pain are similar among the parturient, with meanings or connotations associated with the intensity and quality of their pain, their location and the pain antagonism. We conclude that the representation of that pain is both a learning way and a way of establishment of a socio-cultural context, referring to the experience behavior and the difficulty to understand for whom never felt it.

Key words: Pain; Childbirth labor; Women's health; Obstetric nursing.