the best approach based on current evidence is to encourage the woman to do whatever comes naturally.
and then we will see more women experiencing what you experienced, misty.

In four births I never had to push volitionally, it was all 'hang on for the ride' while my uterus and the foetal ejection reflex did their thing. The only time I pushed volitionally was during my third birth when I gave one slight deliberate push between contractions, just to ease things ever so gently.