"Regardless of how you give birth, it is an experience that should be cherished": ensuring positive experiences during planned caesarean births for wāhine Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Felicia Airini Lawrie; Ashleigh Barrett-Young; Florencia S. Restivo; Gareth J. Treharne; Amanda Ellen Clifford

doi:10.1177/11771801251394728

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"Regardless of how you give birth, it is an experience that should be cherished": ensuring positive experiences during planned caesarean births for wāhine Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

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"Regardless of how you give birth, it is an experience that should be cherished": ensuring positive experiences during planned caesarean births for wāhine Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Felicia Airini Lawrie, Ashleigh Barrett-Young, Florencia S. Restivo, Gareth J. Treharne and Amanda Ellen Clifford

AlterNative : an international journal of indigenous peoples

16/12/2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801251394728

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/10523/49340

Abstract

caesarean

childbirth

elective

Indigenous

New Zealand

wāhine Māori

Wāhine Māori (Māori women) experience a range of inequities in birth outcomes, and little has been published about the ideal service provision for caesarean births for this community. The aim of this rangahau (research) was to explore the lived experiences of wāhine Māori who have given birth by planned caesarean birth in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Ten wāhine aged 31–45 years were interviewed about their experiences of hapūtanga (pregnancy) and whakawhānau (childbirth). Inductive thematic analysis led to five themes: (a) mana motuhake (describing desires for self-determination), (b) whanaungatanga (describing positive relationships with health care providers), (c) poapoataunu ā-pāpori (describing the social stigma of planned caesarean birth), (d) kaitautoko (describing the role of birth partners), and (e) kuranga (describing experiences with education surrounding whakawhānau). The findings from this rangahau demonstrate the needs of wāhine Māori who give birth by planned caesarean with implications for the public maternity system in Aotearoa and similar contexts.

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Record Identifier: 9926823723701891
Title: "Regardless of how you give birth, it is an experience that should be cherished": ensuring positive experiences during planned caesarean births for wāhine Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Creators: Felicia Airini Lawrie
Ashleigh Barrett-Young
Florencia S. Restivo
Gareth J. Treharne
Amanda Ellen Clifford
Publication Details: AlterNative : an international journal of indigenous peoples
Academic Unit: Psychology
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Grant note: University of Otago Doctoral Scholarships
Date published ; e-published: 16/12/2025
Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s) 2025. This work was first published in AlterNative (SAGE Publications). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons‐Attribution‐NonCommercial License 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial use, reproduction, adaptation and distribution of the work in any medium provided the original work is properly attributed to the creator(s) and the source, a link to the Creative Commons license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.
Language: English
Resource Type ; Subtype: Journal article