The knowledge and attitudes of health professionals working in mother-friendly hospitals about complementary therapy and supportive care methods

Abstract

INTRODUCTION It is important that the healthcare professionals who are with the mother at the moment of birth and afterwards, know and apply effective complementary treatment and supportive care methods, and also know their effects and limitations. The aim of this study is to determine the knowledge levels and attitudes of health personnel about complementary therapy and supportive care methods to be used in the management of labor pain and postpartum period. METHODS A cross-sectional study included 142 midwives/nurses and physicians working in the delivery room and maternity services of mother-friendly hospitals in Manisa, Turkey, between August 2018 and April 2019. The questionnaire consisting of 25 questions evaluated the knowledge and attitudes of the participants about complementary therapy and supportive care methods. RESULTS It was found that 30.6% of the healthcare professionals participating in the study used complementary treatment and supportive care methods in their patients. The least heard method was chiropractic (6.6%), the best-known method was hydrotherapy (water birth) (5.8%) and the most used method was massage (14.0%). It was determined that the mean total attitude score of the healthcare workers on complementary treatment and supportive care methods was 18.57 ± 5.12 (range: 8–40). It was found that the education levels of healthcare professionals (z= -2.144, p<0.05) and the institutions affect (χ 2 =23.417; p<0.05) the attitude scores. CONCLUSIONS One out of every two healthcare professionals did not have information about complementary treatment and supportive care methods. Healthcare professionals mostly have positive opinions about these methods.

Insights of healthcare professionals regarding waterbirths and water immersion during labour: A mixed studies review

“…Overall, 3898 records were obtained from the seven electronic databases and relevant citation searching. After the exclusion of 1288 duplicates and 2523 irrelevant titles/abstracts, 88 full texts were examined and 22 papers such as unpublished dissertations (n = 4) (Mercredi, 2020;Russell, 2016;Way, 2015;Woodward, 2012) and peer-reviewed journal articles (n = 18) (Al Moghrabi, 2023;Bolsoy et al, 2022;Cooper et al, 2018Cooper et al, , 2019Cooper et al, , 2021Kaur & Singh, 2019;Lewis, Hauck, Butt, et al, 2018;Meyer et al, 2010;Milosevic et al, 2019Milosevic et al, , 2020Newnham et al, 2015Newnham et al, , 2017Nicholls et al, 2016;Orrantia & Petrick, 2021;Plint & Davis, 2016;Russell et al, 2014;Stark & Miller, 2009;Ulfsdottir et al, 2020) were included in this review. Search outcomes are displayed using the PRISMA flow diagram (Figure 1).…”

“…Midwives/nurses who worked in facilities that did not support waterbirths avoided sharing about waterbirths with pregnant women to avoid giving them false hope about undergoing waterbirths themselves (Milosevic et al, 2019;Newnham et al, 2017;Russell, 2016;Woodward, 2012). Others attributed their avoidance of waterbirths to insufficient training and experience (Bolsoy et al, 2022;Kaur & Singh, 2019;Meyer et al, 2010;Milosevic et al, 2019). They described waterbirths as being out of their 'comfort zone' and were 'fearful' and 'anxious' about how to manage possible emergencies (e.g.…”

“…Physicians, nurses and midwives wanted to receive more waterbirth training and education (Al Moghrabi, 2023;Bolsoy et al, 2022;Nicholls et al, 2016;Plint & Davis, 2016;Russell, 2016;Ulfsdottir et al, 2020), including how to manage emergency situations (Cooper et al, 2019(Cooper et al, , 2021Mercredi, 2020) by having regular 'emergency drills' for them to hone their emergency responses (e.g. evacuating women from the pool/tub and resuscitation) (Milosevic et al, 2020;Woodward, 2012).…”

“…Moreover, waterbirth training programs have been proven to help healthcare professionals gain more knowledge and confidence in facilitating waterbirths and motivate ward managers to promote waterbirths among their staff members (Kaur & Singh, 2019;Lewis, Hauck, Butt, et al, 2018;Russell et al, 2014). Lastly, healthcare professionals felt that women should receive comprehensive antenatal education about waterbirths to help them make 'informed choices' (Bolsoy et al, 2022;Milosevic et al, 2019Milosevic et al, , 2020Newnham et al, 2017;Plint & Davis, 2016;Russell, 2016;Woodward, 2012).…”

“…To cultivate a supportive waterbirth culture (Milosevic et al, 2019;Way, 2015;Woodward, 2012), influential pro-waterbirth midwives could be elected as 'champions' (Cooper et al, 2021;Nicholls et al, 2016;Woodward, 2012) to motivate ward managers, senior colleagues and physicians to encourage waterbirths among eligible women (Cooper et al, 2019;Milosevic et al, 2020;Plint & Davis, 2016;Russell, 2016;Russell et al, 2014;Stark & Miller, 2009). Furthermore, numerous healthcare professionals felt that current waterbirth guidelines/policies could be improved by being more evidence-based, offering more respect for their clinical judgement, and providing more autonomy to women (Bolsoy et al, 2022;Cooper et al, 2018Cooper et al, , 2019Cooper et al, , 2021Milosevic et al, 2019Milosevic et al, , 2020Newnham et al, 2015;Nicholls et al, 2016;Stark & Miller, 2009;Ulfsdottir et al, 2020;Way, 2015). They suggested that physicians, nurses and midwives could collaborate with women to develop these guidelines/policies (Cooper et al, 2018(Cooper et al, , 2019(Cooper et al, , 2021Milosevic et al, 2019;Orrantia & Petrick, 2021;Stark & Miller, 2009;Way, 2015;Woodward, 2012).…”