Mothers' Experience of Category 1 Cesarean Section

The aim of this qualitative prospective study is to investigate how mothers experience a category 1 cesarean section in a hospital where the partner is present in the operation room during the entire process (induction of general anestesia, cesarean section, possible resuscitation of newborn). Mothers will be included in the study, if they wish to participate, on day 1 or 2 following the cesarean section and a brief, structured interview will be held concerning her experience of the cesarean section. Clinical baseline data regarding the mother, the cesarean section and the infant will be collected from patients files. Mothers will be contacted again three months after the cesarean section, and a semi-structured interview will be held via telephone. At the end of the interview a screening for posttraumatic stress will be performed, using the PTSD-8 tool. The interviews will be recorded and transscribed verbatim. Content of interviews will be analysed using manifest content analysis. NVivo software will be used for coding interviews.