Person-Centered Perinatal Health Care and Empowerment During Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum: A Cross-Sectional Mixed-Methods Analysis.

The sample was a convenience survey, not a random or representative group. The quantitative analytic sample was 265 people, and only 41 answered the open-ended question. The sample was mostly Black, in California, and mostly gave birth with midwives, so it may not reflect other populations. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that person-centered care caused empowerment. All measures were self-reported, and empowerment was not defined for participants. Empowerment was grouped as all the time versus less than all the time, which may hide differences among never, a few times, and most of the time. Qualitative respondents were more likely to be White, Latinx, or other race and less likely to feel empowered than the full sample. The survey ran in 2020, during changing pandemic policies, which may have affected birth experiences and support-person rules. Some provider categories were small, including prenatal midwife care.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The article is labeled as supported by NIH extramural research.

Do not conclude that person-centered care causes empowerment or improves outcomes. This was a cross-sectional survey of self-reported associations, and the study did not test whether changing care produced these effects.