RESEARCH ARTICLE

 

Midwives' experiences of managing women in labour in the Limpopo Province of South Africa

 

 

SM Maputle^I; DC Hiss^II

^ID.Cur. Senior Lecturer, University of Venda: Department of Advanced Nursing Sience
^IIPHD (Medicine). Professor, University Western Cape: Department of Medical Biosciences

Correspondence

 

 

---

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCION: The objective of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of midwives managing women during labour at a tertiary care hospital in the Limpopo Province. An exploratory, descriptive, contextual and inductive design was applied to this qualitative research study. Purposive sampling was used to select midwives who were working in the childbirth unit and had managed women during labour. A sample of 12 midwives participated in this study. Data were collected by means of unstructured individual interviews and analysed through an open coding method by the researchers and the independent co-coder.
FINDINGS: Categories identified were lack of mutual participation and responsibility sharing, dependency and lack of decision-making, lack of information-sharing, empowering autonomy and informed choices opportunities, lack of open communication and listening, non-accommodative midwifery actions, and lack of human and material infrastructure. To ensure the validity of the results, criteria to measure trustworthiness were utilized.
CONCLUSION: This study has implications for woman-centered care by midwives managing women in labour and provides appropriate guidelines that should be integrated into the Batho-Pele Principles.

Key words: Accommodative midwifery actions; maximisation of human and material infrastructure; collaboration; interdependence and mutual participation

---

 

 

“Full text available only in PDF format”

 

 

References

BERG, M 2005: A Midwifery Model of Care for Childbearing Woman at High Risk: Genuine Caring in Caring for the Genuine. Journal of Perinatal Education, 14 (1): 9 - 21.         [ Links ]

BLUFF, R & HOLLOWAY, I 2008: The efficacy of midwifery role models. Midwifery, 24 (3); 301-309.         [ Links ]

BURNS, N & GROVE, SK 2005: The practice of nursing research: conduct, critique and utilization. London: WB Saunders Company: W.B. Saunders        [ Links ]

CRESWELL, JW 2003: Research Design: Qualitative and Quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, London New Delhi, Sage Publishers.         [ Links ]

DEMOCRATIC NURSES' ORGANISATION OF SOUTH AFRICA (DENOSA) 1998: Ethical Standards for Nurse Researcher. Pretoria: DENOSA.         [ Links ]

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICES AND ADMINISTRATION 1997: People First: White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery. Pretoria: Staatskoerant.         [ Links ]

DOHERTY, ME 2010: Voices of Mid-wives: A tapestry of Challenges and Blessings. American Journal of Maternal Child nursing, 35 (2): 96 - 101.         [ Links ]

FABIAN, IJ; RÃDESTAD, U & WALDENSTROM U 2008: Characteristics of Swedish women who do not attend childbirth and parenthood education classes during pregnancy. Midwifery, 20 (3) 226-235.         [ Links ]

GIBBINS, J & THOMSON, AM 2001: Women's expectations and experiences of childbirth. Midwifery, 17, 302-313.         [ Links ]

GU, C; ZHANG, Z & DING, Y 2009: Chinese midwives' experience of providing continuity of care to laboring women. Midwifery, doi:10.1016/j.midw.2009.06.007.         [ Links ]

ITO, M & SHARTS-HOPKO, NC 2002: Japanese Women's experience of childbirth in the United States. Health care for women International, 23, 666-677.         [ Links ]

LINCOLN, M & GUBA, EG 1985: Criteria for assessing trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiry. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.         [ Links ]

LOTHIAN, J 2006: Birth plans, the good, the bad, and the future. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 35, 295-303.         [ Links ]

LUNDGREN, I & BERG, M 2007: Central concepts in the midwife-woman relationship. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 21 (2): 145-288.         [ Links ]

LUNDGREN, I & DAHLBERG, K 2002: Midwives' experience of the encounter with women and their pain during childbirth. Midwifery, 18, 155-164.         [ Links ]

LUNDGREN, I & DAHLBERG, K 2005: Central concepts in the midwife-woman relationship. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 21, 220-228.         [ Links ]

MAHMOUD, FF 2006: Human rights aspect of safe motherhood. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, 20 (3): 409-419.         [ Links ]

MAPUTLE, MS & NOLTE, AWG 2008: Mothers' experience of labour in a tertiary care hospital. Health SA Gesondheid Vol. 13 (1), 55-62.         [ Links ]

MARSHALL, C & ROSSMAN, GB 1999: Designing qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage        [ Links ]

MCLEOD, J 2001: Qualitative research in counseling and psychotherapy. London: Sage.         [ Links ]

NOLTE, AGW (ED) 1998: A textbook for midwives. Pretoria: J.L. Van Schaik.         [ Links ]

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 2005: Oxford, University Press.         [ Links ]

PEARSON, A; VAUGHAN, B & FITZGERALD, M 1998: Nursing Models for Practice. Melbourne, Johannesburg: Butterworth-Heinemann.         [ Links ]

PELKONEN, M; PERALA, ML & VEHVILAINEN-JULKNNEN, K. 1998: Participation of expectant mothers in decision-making in maternity care: results of a population-based survey. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28 (1), 21-29.         [ Links ]

PERA, SA & VAN TONDER, S (EDS) 1996: Ethics in Nursing Practice. Cape Town: Juta & Co. Ltd.         [ Links ]

POLIT, DF; BECK, CT & HUNGLER, BP 2001: Nursing research: Principles and methods; 5^th edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott.         [ Links ]

POPE, R; GRAHAM, L & PATEL, S 2001: Woman-centred care. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 2001:38 (2), 227-238.         [ Links ]

REVERE, L & BLACK, K 2003: Integrating six sigma with total quality management: A case example for measuring medication errors. Journal of Healthcare Management, 48 (6): 377-391.         [ Links ]

RITCHER, DL; GREANEY, ML; MCKEOWN, RE; CORNELL, CE; LITTLETON, MA& PULLEY, L 2001: Developing a Video Intervention to Model Effective Patient-Physician Communication and Health-related Decision-making Skills for a Multi-Ethnic Audience. JAMWA, 56 (4), 174-176.         [ Links ]

SANDAL, J 1995: Choice, continuity and control: Changing Midwifery towards a Social Perspective. Midwifery, 11, 201-209.         [ Links ]

SELLS, SP 1997: Teaching Ethnographic Methods in Social Work Course. Journal of Social Work Education, 33, 167.         [ Links ]

SOUTH AFRICA: HEALTH CARE IN LIMPOPO PROVINCE 2005: Implications for planning. Durban: Health Systems Trust.         [ Links ]

STRAUSS, A & CORBIN, J 1990: Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.         [ Links ]

TAKAYAMA, T & YAMAZAKI, Y 2003: How breast cancer outpatients perceive mutual participation in patient-physician interactions. Patient Education and Counseling. 2003: 1-11.         [ Links ]

TARKKA, MT; PAINONEN, M & LAIPPALA, P 2000: Importance of Midwife in the First time Mother's experience of childbirth. Scandinavian Journal Caring Science, 14: 184-190.         [ Links ]

VIISAINEN, K 2001: Negotiating control and meaning: home birth as a self-constructed choice in Finland. ScienceDirect http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=Article URL 256. Accessed on the 25.06.2009.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence:
Dr S. Maputle
Private Bag X 5050
Thohoyandou, 0950
Tel: (015) 962 8125; Fax: (015) 962 8647
E-mail: Sonto.maputle@Univen.ac.za