An Exploratory Study of the Role of Birth Stories in Shaping Expectations for Childbirth among Nulliparous Black Women: Everybody is Different (but I'm Scared).

Nulliparous women accessed and evaluated birth stories from others and applied knowledge received from those stories to their own experiences. Birth stories played an important role in shaping women's hopes, fears, expectations, and childbirth-related choices. Health care providers should inquire about the birth stories shared with their patients to gain a sense of their childbirth desires and expectations. An appreciation for the importance of knowledge learned from birth stories has the potential to reduce maternal health disparities by improving patient-provider communication through a shared understanding of the patient's goals and fears.