Stories: A Tool to Rejuvenate the Culture of Generation Z and Generation Alpha

Being the first social generation to have grown up with the internet and portable digital technology from a young age, Generation Z and Generation Alpha are seldom aware of affections, devotions, traditions, relationships, and cultures that form the basis for a convivial and serene life. They run in this digital world to cope with the current scenario, failing to take in love and affection. The literature reviews furnish the details that Generation Z and Alpha are bestowed with abundant knowledge and information by technology, but they fail to look at the essential parts of humanity. Hence, this paper aims to use stories as a tool to bring back the beam of happiness in the lives of future humans. The surveys that have been taken show that stories are loved by people of all ages, and so it is easy to educate and revive morals, mannerisms, traditional ideas, and cultures through them. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to rejuvenate these groups through stories to lead a peaceful life, which is the ultimate aim of birth. Stories also provide pleasure and activate the mind to think in the right way since the listener is out of the box.

Reproducing fear: the effect of birth stories on nulligravid women’s birth preferences

Objective Preference for caesarean birth is associated with higher fear and lower self-efficacy for vaginal birth. Vicarious experience is a strong factor influencing self-efficacy in nulligravid women, and is increasingly accessible via digital and general media. This study assessed the effect of exposure to different birth stories on nulligravid women’s childbirth preferences and the factors mediating these effects. Methods Nulligravid women (N = 426) were randomly allocated to one of four conditions exposing them to written birth stories. Stories varied by type of birth (vaginal/caesarean) and storyteller evaluation (positive/negative) in a 2 × 2 design. Childbirth preference, fear of labour and vaginal birth, and self-efficacy for vaginal birth were measured before and after exposure via a two-way between groups analysis of covariance. Hierarchical regression models were used to determine the mediating effects of change in childbirth fear and childbirth self-efficacy. Results Variations in type of birth and storyteller evaluation significantly influenced childbirth preferences (F (1, 421) = 44.78, p < 0.001). The effect of vaginal birth stories on preference was significantly mediated by fear of labour and vaginal birth and self-efficacy. Effects of exposure to caesarean birth stories were not explained by changes in fear or self-efficacy. Conclusions Childbirth preferences in nulligravid women can be significantly influenced by vicarious experiences. For stories about vaginal birth, the influence of birth stories on women’s fear and self-efficacy expectancy are partly responsible for this influence. The findings highlight the importance of monitoring bias in vicarious experiences, and may inform novel strategies to promote healthy childbirth.

Lived experiences of pregnant and new mothers during COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative analysis of YouTube birth stories

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought on unprecedented changes, not only to our daily lives but also to our healthcare system. The pandemic has particularly impacted pregnant women that must give birth with tight restrictions and significant uncertainties. Birth stories have frequently been used as a way for women to describe their experiences with the birthing process. In this uncertain time, birth stories can provide valuable insight into how pregnancy and birth stressors during a pandemic can impact the patient’s overall experience. This study sought to describe and understand pregnant and new mothers’ lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsResearchers extracted relevant YouTube birth stories using predetermined search terms and inclusion criteria. The mothers’ birth stories were narrated in their second or third trimester or those who had recently given birth during the study period. Birth stories were analyzed using an inductive and deductive approach to capture different aspects of the birthing experience.ResultsOverall, eighty-three birth stories were analyzed. Within these birth stories, four broad themes and twelve subthemes emerged. Key themes included a sense of loss, hospital experiences, experiences with healthcare providers, and unique experiences during birth and postpartum. The birth stories revealed negative and positive birth experiences. Particularly, mothers were frustrated with constantly changing policies within the healthcare setting that negatively affected their birthing experience. On the other hand, support from healthcare professionals, having their partners in the delivery room, and having a positive mindset was instrumental in having a positive birth experience.ConclusionResults from this study provided a detailed description of women’s lived experience with giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare providers need to provide clear communication and compassionate patient-centered care to relieve women’s anxiety about uncertain and unpredictable policy as the pandemic continues to evolve.

Women’s Acts of Childbirth and Conquest in English Historical Writing

This essay explores how female characters in historical literature written in high to late medieval England shape land claims, political history, and genealogy through their acts of childbirth. Recent scholarship has shown how medieval writers frequently imagined virginal female bodies – religious and secular – in relation to land claim, but less work exists on how they also used the non-virginal bodies of mothers and vivid descriptions of childbirth to assert rights to land and lineage. This essay examines three birth stories associated with conquest or claims to contested lands from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, William of Malmesbury’s Gesta Regum Anglorum, and the anonymous ancestral romance Fouke le Fitz Waryn. In these principally high medieval texts, there is little of the squeamishness around parturition sometimes found in later French and Middle English romances. Rather, female characters give birth outdoors, underground, on contested borders, and accompanied by visions of conquest. The writers attribute the women with effort, activity, and political astuteness, as these political and figurative acts of childbirth shape the women’s relationships to land and those of their descendants.