Introduction:

A positive childbirth experience promotes women’s health, both during and beyond the perinatal period. Understanding what constitutes a positive childbirth experience is thus critical to providing high- quality maternity care. Currently,  there  is  no  clear,  inclusive, woman-  centered definition  of  a  positive  childbirth experience to guide practice, education, and research.

Aim:

To  formulate  an  inclusive  woman-  centered  definition  of  a  positive  child-birth experience.

Methods:

A six- step process was undertaken: (a) Key concepts associated with a positive childbirth were derived from a rapid literature review; (b) The key concepts were used by interdisciplinary experts in the author group to create a draft definition;  (c)  The  draft definition  was  presented  to clinicians  and  researchers  during a European research meeting on perinatal mental health; (d) The authors integrated the expert feedback to refine the working definition; (e) A revised definition was shared with women from consumer groups in six countries to confirm its face validity; and (f) A final definition was formulated based on the women’s feedback (n = 42).

Results:

The following definition was formulated: “A positive childbirth experience refers to a woman’s experience of interactions and events directly related to childbirth  that  made her  feel  supported,  in  control,  safe,  and  respected;  a  positive  childbirth  can  make women  feel  joy, confident,  and/or  accomplished  and  may  have  short  and/or  long- term  positive  impacts  on  a  woman’s  psychosocial  well- being.”

Conclusions:

This  inclusive,  woman-  centered  definition  highlights  the  importance  of  provider interactions  for  facilitating  a  positive  childbirth  experience.  Feeling  supported  and having  a  sense  of  control,  safety,  and  respect  are  central tenets. This definition could help to identify and validate positive childbirth  experience(s),  and  to  inform practice,  education,  research,  advocacy,  and  policy- making.