This a historical-social qualitative study which aimed to identify the strategies of symbolic fight of nurses in Leila Diniz Maternity to implant a humanized model of delivery assistance and analyze the effects of this fight. The primary sources were written documents and oral testimonials from semi-structure interviews with the head nurses and the nursing staff. The analysis method included the ordination, classification, and triangulation of data. For analysis, the concepts of field, habitus, symbolic power, and capital, according to Pierre Bourdieu, were used. The strategies founded were: the search for specialization, the implementation of the Delivery Assistance Project by Obstetric Nurses, the popularization of that capital/knowledge in the scientific context, and participation in the prenatal care group. We concluded the fight strategies adopted by agents contributed so that obstetric nurses would achieve a better hierarchical position in this field regarding the development of obstetric practices of the humanized model.
Humanizing delivery; Obstetrical nursing; Nursing history; Nursing