The experiences of husbands present at their wives' emergency cesarean sections

Abstract

Semi-structured 30 -min interviews were conducted with husbands who were presented at childbirth on emergency cesarean sections of their wives in a private room. Those interviews were taken place from one day to six after the emergency cesarean section. Consent was obtained to record the interviews. If consent for recording was refused, responses to the interview were written down. The interviewer inquired about "the husbands' experiences Abstract : The aim of this study was to clarify the experiences of husbands present at their wives' emergency cesarean sections. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for nine husbands who attended their wives' emergency cesarean sections. The results were analyzed using a qualitative inductive approach. Several categories such as [wife's labor pain will be unbearable if I look], [situation was beyond one's control], and [sense of relief experienced by midwife care] were extracted from the husbands'experiences the need for an emergency cesarean section was established. Additional categories such as [sense of relief at cesarean section decision], [convincing oneself], and [anxiety for life and hope for safety] were extracted at the time of the emergency cesarean section decision. Other categories [anxiety while waiting for prolonged periods], [ease of mind with family], and [pleasure in meeting the baby] were extracted from the husbands' experiences while waiting for their wives' cesarean section. Finally, the categories of [unloading of responsibilities], [to thank my wife], and [remaining anxious and fearful] were extracted from the husbands' experiences on their wives return to their hospital rooms. Husbands were anxious about the life and safety of their wife and child, and considered their futures in case of an unexpected occurrence. J. Med. Invest. 65 : 268-273, August, 2018

Presence of the partner in the operating room during emergency caesarean section

“…The titles covered one nonsystematic review, 21 five quantitative studies, [22][23][24][25][26] seven qualitative studies, [27][28][29][30][31][32][33] four letters/brief descriptions of single cases, [34][35][36][37] four debate posts [38][39][40][41] and three conference abstracts 6,42,43 (Table 1). Geographically, studies originated from the UK, 6,26,30,[34][35][36][37]40,42,43 the USA, 22,24,41 Germany, 38,39 Brazil, 29,33 South Africa, 27 Japan, 31 Sweden, 28 Norway, 23 Finland, 25 Spain 32 and Canada. 21 The studies were published between 1984 and 2020.…”

“…The study also found that the fathers did not feel that they received the information or support that they needed from the medical staff, and a few of the participants had symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder 49 . Several of the studies included in this review also mention communication and support from healthcare staff as crucial for partners during emergency caesarean sections 22,23,27,28,31,32 …”

Pre-and-post-operative aversion among men whose partners had caesarean delivery in a patriarchal setting.

“…Male partners were reported to be relieved on seeing both the woman and baby in good condition after CD with eventual support for CD as the right delivery option. 16 In another report, the authors reported previous surgery to be associated with increased aversion for CD. Therefore, the authors recommended that medical personnel should prioritize patient safety as well as other interventions to make the surgical experience patient friendly as this influences the attitude to CD in the future.…”

“…In a similar study, the male partners were concerned about the severity of the labour pain and viewed the decision for CD as an opportunity to relieve the labour pain. 16 In another report, 32.1% of male partners were concerned about possible death of the woman, 14.9% feared limitation in the number of future children while 10.3% were bothered by possible complications after the surgery. 17 In another study, the male partners were anxious about the life and safety of the wife and child and considered the consequences of the woman's death on the family.…”

“…17 In another study, the male partners were anxious about the life and safety of the wife and child and considered the consequences of the woman's death on the family. 16 The anxiety among the male partners was heightened by the duration of surgery; the men described the waiting period as being long and time appeared to be moving too slowly while the kept looking at the watch. 1 …”