Post-traumatic Growth in Women's Lived Experiences: A Phenomenological Study

Natural childbirth after caesarean section can prevent the recurrence of caesarean section and its many complications, so this study was conducted with the aim of examining the explaining the lived experiences and psychological function of these mothers.

This research was conducted with a qualitative approach of hermeneutic phenomenology. Participants included 17 women with a history of natural childbirth after cesarean section, who were selected purposefully from among women in hospitals and medical centers in Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, and Qom. The research tool was an unstructured interview, and the process of completing the interviews continued until data saturation was reached. Dikelman et al.'s seven-step model was used to collect and analyze data.

In the data analysis, the main theme was identified as post-traumatic growth, which indicates the improvement of psychological function. This theme was formed by five sub-themes of threat perception and effective coping strategies, replacing successful identity instead of failed identity, understanding experiences and strengthening spiritual beliefs, developing and improving interpersonal emotional relationships, and strengthening self-efficacy beliefs.

Based on the data analysis, it was concluded that women with vaginal delivery after caesarean section were able to cope with it successfully and reach higher levels of psychological performance and positive change in cognition and emotion and then behavior by using personal and social resources to fight against mental barriers and internal and external challenges of natural childbirth after caesarean section.