SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF DUTCH MATERNITY CARE

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The Dutch maternity care system is a fascinating field for sociological research combining as it does low-technology, midwife-assisted home births with state of the art, high technology in regional hospitals. In an age of high cost medicine this system is unique: it keeps costs down while consistently delivering one of the world's lowest perinatal mortality rates. To date no one has explained why midwife-assisted home births persisted in the Netherlands (while every other modern, industrialized nation moved away from home birth), nor has there been careful study of how the Dutch method of delivering maternity care evolved. Using archival data along with interviews and observation, my sociological analysis of Dutch maternity care will improve our understanding of the social shaping of medical systems and will offer specific guidelines for the reform of maternity care in the United States. On the recommendation of my foreign sponsor, I will make three visits to Holland: an initial three month visit for gathering statistical data and arranging interviews; a second (six month) visit to conduct interviews and make observations; and a final (three month) visit to do necessary follow-up and to allow close collaboration in writing.