I am a college student conducting research for an assigned project. The results of the survey will be used only for my project and will not be shared with anyone outside of my class. No attempts will be made to specifically identify anyone who completes the survey.

When most expecting families think about the birth of their child, they imagine a memorable, emotionally charged, once-in-a-lifetime event. Little do they know, 18% of new mothers report traumatic births; 9% of which have high enough scores to be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (Simkin Penny, 2011)

Qualifications to take this survey:

*You, (male/female) experienced trauma and/or Childbirth Related PTSD from the birth of one of your children.

Childbirth Related PTSD is defined as: to stressful situations in which a person had experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. It also included the subjective response to such events, i.e., feelings of intense fear, helplessness or horror. (Eelco Olde, Onno van der Hart, Rolf Kleber, Maarten van Son, Posttraumatic stress following childbirth: A review, 2006)

Childbirth Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) shows itself in many forms such as: insomnia due to nightmares about the delivery, flashbacks of the event brought on my triggers, complete amnesia of the event, and increased arousal. (Eelco Olde, Onno van der Hart, Rolf Kleber, Maarten van Son, Posttraumatic stress following childbirth: A review, 2006)

*You added a Birth Doula to your birthing team for subsequent births.

A doula is a professional who is trained in childbirth and provides continuous support to a mother before, during, and just after childbirth. The word Doula comes from a Greek word that means “a woman who serves.”