Determination of women's perception of birth and affecting factors in the postpartum period

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the perception of birth and the factors affecting the birth perception of women in the postpartum period. Method: The study was planned in descriptive type. The research was conducted with 344 women who gave birth in the Ege University Hospital Gynecology Clinic between November- 2019 and June- 2021. Personal information form and Birth Perception Scale were used as data collection tools. The data were collected in two stages by face-to-face interview on the day of birth and by telephone interview one week after birth. T-test, one-way analysis of variance and regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data. Results: The average age of the women in the study was 29.40±5.60. It was determined that 29.7% of the women were secondary school graduates, 67.4% did not work in any job, and 57.3% of them had income equal to their expenses. It was found that the average of the Birth Perception Scale score of the women participating in the study was 10.06±2.96. It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the scale mean scores and the variables of age, job, economic level, number of antenatal care, intervention in the birth, meeting the birth expectation, and healthy birth of the baby. Conclusion: It was determined that the women's perception of birth was moderately positive. It has been determined that the birth perception of women who work in the private sector, whose economic income is equal to their expenses, who receive eight or more antenatal care, who are not exposed to any intervention during birth, whose expectations from birth are met and who give birth to healthy baby at birth, are positive. It is recommended that health professionals working in the postpartum service evaluate women's perception levels of birth and plan the necessary care before discharge. Key words: Birth experience, nursing, positive perception of birth, negative perception of birth.