Directions received during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum by puerperae group

Abstract

This is a descriptive study, with qualitative approach, with the purpose of identifying the directions on pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum received during prenatal, childbirth and postpartum period, by puerperae assisted at a private hospital of Maringá, PR. The sample was composed by twelve women in the postpartum period, who were submitted to a semi-structured interview, following a basic itinerary, in the months of June and July 2007. The interviews were recorded and transcribed integrally. The discourses were submitted to the thematic analysis, classified and presented in three thematic units: Prenatal: which directions is necessary to incorporate?; Childbirth: needed directions; and Postpartum: is maternal care forgotten? It was concluded that in spite of the puerperae have a good educational and socioeconomic background, as well as having received several instructions in the three studied periods (prenatal, childbirth and postpartum), on the part of the health professionals and of other sources of information, still important gaps exist, mainly in relation to the hygiene and the pregnant woman's physical activity, to the father's participation in all the care to the newborn, to the home maternal care in agreement with the type of childbirth and to the breastfeeding management.