The research team included authors of multidisciplinary backgrounds. The contribution of each author, coming from different paradigms and perspectives on women’s needs in labour, ensured the interpretation of findings was grounded in the data and came from the data. The use of refutational analyses, as recommended by Noblit and Hare20 21 minimises the risk of overlooking information because it did not fit with the authors’ pre-conceptions. This strengthens the trustworthiness of this research.