Short abstract:

Trauma-centred care have been introduced as response to negative birth experiences in Swiss maternities. We examine the knowledges used and produced by caregivers to frame birth experiences in these care pathways and how the trauma framing overshadows the concurrent framing of obstetric violence.

Long abstract:

Drawing from a feminist-STS framework, based on an ethnography in Swiss maternity units and on a controversy analysis of scientific literature and mass media, this presentation will analyse the role of the psychological framing of negative birth experiences within current debates about obstetric violence. Whereas mass media focus on both obstetric violence and psychological framing of negative experiences, psychological framing is at the forefront of knowledge-making and practices in maternity units.

Our fieldwork documents how scientific literature on birth trauma is circulated and transformed by non-psychologist in day-to-day communication and practices. The midwife-led debriefing has increasingly become a care pathway proposed to users who express dissatisfaction about their birth. This consultation is presented as an opportunity for parents to discuss their experience and as a tool to prevent and screen for birth-related PTSD. We will analyse how the debriefing reflects a situated selection of the growing literature on trauma-centred care. In addition, we will describe how expertise and knowledge are produced within the debriefing sessions and how they reframe the debates on obstetric violence. Whereas 'obstetric violence' refers to problematic care, situated within the continuum of gender-based violence, 'traumatic birth' relates to psychological reactions to the unfolding of birth. The framing of dissatisfaction in psychological terms provides a handle for professionals dealing with suffering and/or complaining users, while limiting the potential for structural change in care practices. We aim to open the discussion on how this framing contributes to reproductive injustice by producing ignorance concerning problematic aspects of care.