The cultural and social meanings of childbearing for Chinese and Scottish women in Scotland

Objective: to analyse the meanings that women gave to their childbearing experiences in order to provide some useful insights as to how their experiences might be improved.

Setting: maternity units in Scotland.

Design: four semi-structured interviews with each of ten Chinese and ten Scottish women in their own language; and unstructured interviews with 45 health workers, women's relatives and their friends.

Findings: having children was meaningful to Scottish and Chinese women in Scotland in different ways which were related to their social positions, beliefs and practices involved and the change in social status on the birth of a child. Different meanings demanded different coping strategies in healthy childbearing. Scottish women took greater interest in their sense of control over their childbearing. Some Chinese women were experiencing more extensive cultural conflicts and changes as they tried to identify with the new culture, while the others were experiencing gradual changes over a period of time consciously or unconsciously. Both Chinese and Scottish women in the study were in a struggle between autonomy and control over their childbearing--between the mind and the body.

Conclusion: childbearing is socially shaped and culturally specific. Maternity services need to consider ways in which cultural sensitive care can be provided to women in a multi-ethnic modern society.