Caring control: methodological issues in a discourse analysis of waterbirth texts

Caring control: methodological issues in a discourse analysis of waterbirth texts¶ This paper describes a study where the discourses surrounding waterbirth were identified by an analysis of texts in professional journals and broadsheet newspapers. While one particular discourse, caring control, will be discussed, the focus of the paper is on the method of discourse analysis. What discourse analysis can offer nurses and midwives is a position from which to analyse systematically and to arrive at some understanding of how oppression and inequality of power relations, which are inherent in many forms of health care provision, are created and sustained.