Abstract
The relationship between using a midwife vs. a medical model birth and the level of empowerment a woman can achieve through birth was studied. By working with women prior to, during, and for their post partum care, social workers have an opportunity to support women in their search for an empowered birth. This “trickle out effect” is accomplished by harnessing a woman’s perceived sense of empowerment, which means, if an empowered birth is unavailable or simply not invested in, a woman can potentially miss out on a life changing experience. A total of 58 women participated in this study by answering both quantitative and qualitative questions which afforded this researcher with the ability to identify what these particular women as a group felt led to empowerment. This researcher found that for the women in this study, those who had not attained a college degree revealed that they had a higher level of empowerment than their counterparts whom held a Bachelor’s degree or higher. While some women in this study stated that the hospital setting either limited their ability to make choices, aid in the decision making process, or placed the women in the position of risk when considering the impetus for unnecessary interventions that often occur in the hospital setting; most of the women in this study related that they opted to utilize services provided by the medical model as opposed to working with a midwife. A few of the women stated that they were able to utilize the services of a midwife within the hospital setting. Surprisingly, the research showed that while working with a midwife was a consideration, the women included in this study predominantly sought care in the medical model setting.