Cesárea? Não, Obrigada! : estratégias de uma rede social de gestantes para enfrentar o sistema das cesáreas por conveniência médica no Brasil.

Abstract

Brazil is today the country with the highest C-section rate in the world. However, not every woman in the country wishes to undergo the procedure, which can cause injury and undesirable outcomes to their bodies. This dissertation is based on the netnography of a group discussion about humanized childbirth in Brazil. The group is called C-section? Thanks, but no thanks! , and operates on Facebook. This group is made up by a significant number of participants who seek vaginal birth. Among group participants there are women who migrate from private health care services provided by health plans to the public health system (SUS), in search of greater autonomy and respect for their choices. Women from different social brackets post on the Facebook group in order to tell their stories and share their path to a vaginal delivery in order to inform expecting women on how to deal with medical authority and to warn them against the reasons, given by obstetricians, which led them towards unwanted cesareans. This study analyzed twelve different stories, for which express written consent was obtained. It was found that there is a women s movement to help women through the dissemination of scientific articles, birth videos, and healthcare protocols. Through the social network group women convey information so that members are able to develop strategies to attain their goal: vaginal delivery and a healthy baby, and a cesarean only if necessary. The group was monitored daily for a period of 60 days, and a study of the birth stories published was carried out, with emphasis on the practices described and the values that describe the experience of giving birth vaginally. The study was structured in three stages. Stage one comprised of participant observation in the virtual group. During stage two, community mapping was undertaken. Stage three was devoted to the analysis of the birth stories of women that delivered through the Brazilian Public Health System (SUS). The analyses aimed to investigate the categories that emerged through the selected birth stories and how they operate towards advocating a particular point of view in opposition of the hegemonic technocratic model of birth in Brazil.