ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN POSITIVE BIRTH EXPERIENCES AND FUTURE PREGNANCY INTENTIONS

Raquel Coutinho, CEDEPLAR - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Michelle Ferreira, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)

In contexts of low and delayed fertility, studying the differences between women who have additional children and those who do not is imperative. If aspects of the birth experience influence decisions to become pregnant again, this could be key to improving both objective gestational outcomes (morbidity) and subjective outcomes (well-being and happiness). This paper uses quantitative data from the survey Women’s Perception of Obstetric Care and its Consequences for the Health of Women and Children in Belo Horizonte (Cedeplar/Faculdade de Medicina da UFMG, 2021) to shed light on how gestational experiences contribute to the intention to continue childbearing. We aim to understand how the intention to have more children, as well as unmet demand, could be associated with various experiences, such as obstetric violence, high-risk pregnancies, maternal mental health, the baby’s condition at birth, and other gestational and perinatal circumstances. We also examine how the level of planning of the last pregnancy is associated with perinatal outcomes. The results indicate that both perinatal and gestational outcomes are linked to the degree of pregnancy planning (the higher the level of planning, the better the outcomes for both mother and baby), as well as to future reproductive intentions

Keywords: Fertility, Family Planning and Contraception, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Health and Morbidity

See extended abstract.