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Background:Childbirth is accompanied with enormous physical and emotional changes in mothers. Anxiety is the most common problem among these patients. This study was aimed to determine the effect of the presence of trained husbands beside their wives during childbirth on their anxiety.Materials and Methods:In a randomized control trial, 84 primiparous women were enrolled in childbirth educational classes. Anxiety score was compared among three groups; without accompaniment (control), with accompaniment (doula), and with trained husband's support before hospitalization at the time of admission and during the 4th stage of delivery. Data was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and least significant difference tests.Results:The level of anxiety before hospitalization was not significantly different among the three groups (38.6, 39.2, and 38.4, respectively, in without accompaniment, with accompaniment (doula), and with trained husband's support groups). This level was significantly different among groups during hospitalization (36, 42.1, and 59.1, respectively, as per previous groups’ order). The level of anxiety in the intervention group at 4th stage of delivery was significantly lower than other groups (31.4 versus 43.3 and 69.2, respectively with P < 0.001).Conclusions:According to the results of this study presence of trained husbands beside their wives during delivery decreased mother's anxiety. It is recommended to use this intervention during childbirth.

Background Women’s experiences of birth environment influence their mental health and that of their families. Identifying women’s childbirth experiences in the labor–delivery–recovery–postpartum unit (LDRP) unit can help design a peaceful environment. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate environmental factors influencing women’s childbirth experiences in LDRP unit. Methods This qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted on 20 women with a childbirth experience in the LDRP unit. A purposive sampling was performed and continued until data saturation. The data were collected through unstructured interviews and analyzed using inductive content analysis. Results Data analysis led to the extraction of three categories: physical security, a meaning-oriented environment, and physical comfort. The physical security category was obtained from three sub-categories: privacy, bed ergonomics, and the possibility of medical interventions. The meaning-oriented environment category was extracted from four sub-categories: promising symbols of becoming a mother, a peaceful environment, and a spiritual environment, and the physical comfort category was extracted from three sub-categories: minimizing noise pollution, ambient lighting, and LDRP internal design. Conclusions These study results showed that women’s experience of giving birth in LDRP was accompanied by perceiving physical security, a meaning-oriented environment, and physical comfort. Moreover, the results indicated that the childbirth experience in the LDRP unit might be influenced by physical and emotional environmental factors. Therefore, in order to design a peaceful environment, it is necessary to take into account these factors.

Background:Medical malpractices in obstetrics are one of the main health concerns since in addition to the mortalities and morbidities caused for the two susceptible groups of mothers and neonates, they may lead to difficulties for the accused gynecologists and midwives in returning to their routine medical career and giving services to the patients. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate different types of malpractices in midwifery that were referred to the legal medical commission and medical council in Isfahan province.Materials and Methods:In this cross-sectional descriptive study, we evaluated the data from all midwifery cases referred to the forensic medicine commission and medical council in Isfahan province between 2006 and 2011, with at least one lawsuit confirmed by the jury.Results:The results showed that in a total of 206 investigated cases at the medical council and forensic medicine commission in Isfahan, 66 cases of medical error sentences including 38 cases in medical council and 28 cases in forensic medicine commission were proved, which revealed 32% of malpractice in midwifery services in 2006–2011 in Isfahan. Negligence (39.2%), imprudence (23.5%), and disobedience of governmental regulations (19.6%) stood among the most commonly reported malpractices. Our findings also suggest that the most common malpractices happened in the postpartum period with a frequency of 44.7%; in addition, governmental hospitals were shown to have the most frequent malpractices with a frequency of 50%.Conclusions:Our results reveal that malpractices in midwifery services during and after delivery are so common, leading to irreversible complications to the mothers’ and neonates’ health in the society. On the other hand, considering the fact that most of these malpractices are preventable, related education, pertinent plans, and proper supervision sys.