A qualitative evaluation on the informed consent of women undergoing cesarean section

The concept of informed consent means that the patient voluntarily accepts medical intervention with his/her free will after being fully and adequately informed about the medical interventions to be performed. In the context of our thesis, which was completed at Ankara University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Women’s Studies, Integrated PhD program, the main purpose of the study was to examine whether the informed consent of the woman was obtained within the framework of cesarean section practices, whether and how much the informed consent was obtained properly from a bioethical perspective. The issue was approached from the perspective of women. A qualitative study was conducted with the participation of 10 women who had undergone a cesarean section. The interviewees’ reasons for preferring cesarean section, their relevant thoughts, the decision-making process, and their value discourses on informed consent in cesarean section were obtained through in-depth interviews using a prepared questionnaire. The questionnaire used in our study is a questionnaire with open-ended questions for semi-structured interviews that allow for the collection of deeper and contextualized information. The data obtained were evaluated by thematic analysis method. The value discourses that came to the fore in the interviews were categorized into context, main theme, and sub-themes. According to the findings of the study, it was observed that individual, social/environmental and physician factors played a role in the preference for cesarean section, and fear of vaginal delivery and pain was an important factor. In the context of opinions, it was found that the number of interviewees who evaluated cesarean delivery negatively was high. It was determined that there was no material shortage in obtaining information about cesarean delivery, but the fear of vaginal delivery hindered the desire to have that information. Regarding the decision on the mode of delivery, the interviewees agreed that this should be a joint decision of the physician and the woman. The method and scope of informed consent were examined, and it was found that informed consent was not duly applied ethically and that the scope of the information provided to women did not include all the elements that should be included in informed consent. As a result, it has been observed that the condition of information, which is a sine qua non to give consent autonomously, is not sufficiently provided.