The Influence of Emotional Support During Childbirth: A Clinical Study

This study aims at exploring the psychological impact of emotional support
during childbirth and thus to discuss it in the light of humanized principles of assistance. Methods: clinical study
carried through intermittent observation of the labor and birth, when the emotional stages of the parturient and
emotional support she received from the midwife were observed. Interviews about the women’s experience of
labor were performed before hospital discharge. The study demonstrated how emotional support has a direct
impact in childbirth, and it gives elements to broaden the concept of humanized birth by enhancing emotional
support as a key element to childbirth assistance. KEY WORDS: emotional support, childbirth, psychology,
midwife.