This is a qualitative fragment of a multi-centric study with qualitative and quantitative approaches developed in three public health institutions in the Southern region of Brazil, involving 30 inpatient pregnant women. The study uses Carraro's Components of Care as theoretical support and aims to present the health team's role, according to the methods applied for women's care and comfort during labor and childbirth. The interviews took place between August and December of 2006 and were analyzed through content analysis. As a result, the following categories emerged: emotional support provided by the health team; orientation; and care-lessness, which appeared in moments of loneliness and abandonment mentioned by the interviewed women. The study points out the nurse together with the health team taking a stand on their ethical, legal, and moral responsibility, going beyond technical and scientific responsibility, awakening women to the reality of knowing her body and her limitations.
Patient care; Nursing, team; Labor stage, first; Labor, obstetric