Iranian midwives’ awareness and performance of respectful maternity care during labor and childbirth

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Midwives' perceptions of Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) play an important role in promoting quality of care. This study aimed to explore the awareness and performance of Iranian midwives of RMC during childbirth. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out from November to December 2020 to evaluate 130 midwives' awareness and performance of RMC during childbirth at four public hospitals in Urmia province, Iran. Participants were midwives who were working in the labor unit and had at least one year of work experience. The Midwives' Knowledge and Practice Scale on Respectful Maternity Care was used to assess midwives' awareness and performance. The quality assessment of questionnaires was based on the mean for each item. A multivariate linear regression approach was developed to evaluate the relationship between midwives' age, academic education level plus occupational information and their awareness and performance of RMC. RESULTS This study revealed that Iranian midwives had good awareness but fair performance of RMC. The mean scores of the overall awareness and performance of RMC were 36.07±10.13 and 75.47±35.4, respectively. Midwives' performance on two domains was fair including 'Giving emotional support' and 'Providing safe care'. The results of multivariate linear regression analysis showed a significant negative relationship between job satisfaction and midwives' performance on RMC. Also work experience plus a Master's degree in midwifery had positive significant effects on midwives' awareness along with performance on RMC (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Promoting respectful maternity care requires essential interpersonal and communication skills and supportive attitudes from midwives.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of healthcare providers on mistreatment during labour and childbirth: a cross-sectional study in Tehran, Iran, 2021

“…The results of a recent study by Haghdoost et al (2021) in Urmia showed that the midwives had a good knowledge and fair performance towards RMC [61], which is not consistent with our study. This inconsistency may be due to differences in the study population as well as data collection tools.…”

The Role of Midwives in the Course of Natural Childbirth—Analysis of Sociodemographic and Psychosocial Factors—A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Foreign studies confirmed the above thesis that the job satisfaction of midwives and the willingness to stay in a given job depend on what type of the leadership is being cultivated amongst the management [ 42 ]. In turn, Iranian research reports that a lack of job satisfaction has a significant negative impact on the quality of communication and patient care [ 43 ]. Swedish midwives, when assessing job satisfaction, emphasized the lack of professional recognition instead, drawing attention to the perceived conflict of roles and the feeling of burnout [ 44 ].…”

Developing the Promotion of Respectful Maternity Care Strategies for Midwives in Jos, an Intervention Mapping Approach

“…Every woman has the right to the best maternity care that is humanly possible, which includes the highest degree of health that is respectful (Belizan et al, 2020). Respectful maternity care (RMC) refers to seven domains that have been developed by White Ribbon Alliance and is a universal human right of childbearing women (RMC Charter) (WRA) (Haghdoost et al, 2021). Respectful maternity care may increase a woman's likelihood of giving birth vaginally, increase her satisfaction, and shorten her labor (Bohren et al, 2017).…”

“…This assistance comprises emotional support (constant presence, touching, empathy, reassurance, and praise) as well as knowledge about the status of the labor. Together with comfort measures, it might also offer guidance on coping mechanisms (Haghdoost et al, 2021). A number of variables contribute to disrespectful maternity care, among is the provider factors which include work overload/stress, training gaps, the desire for a positive obstetric outcome, under-remuneration and under-appreciation (Okedo-Alex et al, 2020).…”