scholarly journals Experiences and perceptions of birth companions supporting women in labour at a District Hospital in Limpopo, South Africa

Curationis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy V. Summerton ◽  
Tsakani R. Mtileni ◽  
Maphei E. Moshabela
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Maternity Care ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Respectful Maternity Care ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Case Record ◽  
Experience Of Care ◽  
Birth Companion

Background: South Africa has included birth companions in its national guidelines for maternity care and the revised Maternity Case Record, in and effort to improve the quality and experience of care. However, reservations amongst healthcare providers remain about the acceptability of birth companions in the labour ward.Objectives: To document the experiences and perceptions of birth companions who supported women in labour in a rural hospital in Limpopo Province where a Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) project was piloted.Method: An institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed. Purposive sampling was employed where all birth companions who supported a woman during labour and birth were included in the study. The experiences and perceptions of birth companions were captured using a birth companion feedback book during the period of 1st April to 30th August 2019. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Results: Seventy-one (71) of the 73 birth companions only had positive responses about the birthing experience and how both the birth companion and woman in labour were treated. Two birth companions were dissatisfied with the treatment provided by the midwife that supported the birth.Conclusion: It is important for healthcare providers to understand the far reaching emotional and psychological impact of their attitudes and behaviour on, not only women in labour but also on others who witness their (healthcare providers) behaviour. Mechanisms to obtain feedback from birth companions should be integrated into strategies to improve the quality and experience of care for women during childbirth.

scholarly journals Birth companion of choice: a survey amongst women who have given birth at a rural hospital in Limpopo, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 148-153
Author(s):  
Joy V Summerton
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Experience Of Care ◽  
Birth Companion

Background: Advancements in medical interventions have contributed to the prevention of innumerable deaths of women and newborns globally, leading to the medicalization of childbirth, which may have inadvertently contributed to a dehumanization of the birthing experience by denying women the social and emotional support that they enjoyed when giving birth in the home environment. The WHO places equal importance on the quality of clinical care and the quality of experience of care. Emotional support, provided by a birth companion of choice, is critical for enhancing the experience of care during labour and birth. This study explores advocacy for women to have a birth companion, as well as perceptions of women about having a birth companion during labour and birth in a rural sub-district of Limpopo Province in South Africa. Methods: A cross-sectional study based on a continuous electronic RMC client satisfaction survey, on an on-line platform, which was completed by 506 women in a postnatal ward of a rural district hospital. Observations of interactions between midwives, women in labour and their birth companions during labour and birth were conducted in the same hospital. The survey data was analysed using descriptive statistics in Excel, and comprises both univariate and bi-variate analyses. The qualitative data from the observations was analysed using thematic analysis techniques. Results: Over 80% of women who completed the survey reported that they were informed about what a birth companion is and encouraged to register a birth companion at the health facility where they were attending antenatal care. Almost half of the women (49%) who were encouraged to bring a birth companion, had a birth companion during labour, whereas 15% of those not encouraged to bring a birth companion, had a birth companion during labour. The respondents who were feeling neutral, happy and very happy about having a birth companion were most likely to recommend having a birth companion to their family member or friends. Conclusion: The findings show that encouraging and supporting the presence of a woman’s companion of choice during labour and childbirth is an effective intervention that is respectful of women’s autonomy and agency and which is crucial for improving quality of clinical care and the experience of care during labour and birth

scholarly journals An Innovative Intervention to Improve Respectful Maternity Care in Three Districts in Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birkety Mengistu Jembere ◽  
Haregeweyni Alemu ◽  
Munir Kassa ◽  
Meseret Zelalem ◽  
Mehiret Abate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Maternity Care ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
Health Facilities ◽  
Respectful Maternity Care ◽  
Experience Of Care ◽  
National Initiative ◽  
Care Training ◽  
Facility Level ◽  
Birth Companion

Abstract Background: Mistreatment during childbirth are major violations of human rights and often deter women from accessing skilled delivery in health facilities. In Ethiopia, mistreatment has been documented to occur in up to 49.4% of mothers delivering in health facilities. This study describes the development, implementation and results of a novel intervention to improve respectful maternity care and decrease mistreatment in three districts in Ethiopia. Methods: As part of a national initiative to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in Ethiopia, we developed a novel respectful maternity care training module with three core components: testimonial videos, didactic sessions on communication, and onsite coaching. As of February 2017, we implemented the respectful maternity care training in three districts within the regions of Oromia; Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s; and Tigray. Measures of births with privacy and a birth companion from a 27-month data from 17 health centers and three hospitals were analyzed using interrupted time series and a regression analysis was conducted to assess the significance of improvement. Facility level solutions applied to enhance privacy and birth companion were documented. Results: Analysis of the effectiveness of integrating respectful maternity care using available programmatic data showed significant improvement following the respectful maternity care training, which was sustained beyond the project intervention (regression coefficients ranging from 0.18 to 0.77). Several local solutions were devised and implemented in the health facilities to improve the experience of care for mothers. Conclusion: This study suggests that integrating the respectful maternity care training into the district-wide quality improvement collaborative is effective in improving respectful maternity care. Multi-pronged approach is especially helpful in enhancing respectful maternity care comprehensively. Use of testimonial videos helped providers to see their services from their clients’ perspective, the quality improvement training and coaching helped them reflect on potential root causes for this type of treatment and develop effective solutions.

scholarly journals Competency level assessment of healthcare practitioners in managing diabetes and diabetic eye disease in the district health system of Limpopo province, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaheera Abdool ◽  
Kovin Naidoo ◽  
Linda Visser
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health System ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Eye Disease ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
District Health ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
District Health System ◽  
Screening Model ◽  
Diabetic Eye Disease

Background: There are many gaps in the management of diabetes mellitus (DM) and diabetic eye disease in the district health system (DHS) of South Africa (SA). National guidelines recommend annual eye examinations for patients with DM.Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe the self-reported skill levels of healthcare practitioners (HCPs) to conduct eye examination procedures required for a proposed diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening model.Setting: The study was conducted in public health institutions of Waterberg district and Mankweng Hospital complex (Capricorn district) in Limpopo province, SA.Methods: A cross-sectional design using purposive sampling was conducted, and questionnaires were distributed to a total of 74 HCPs. The questionnaires distributed included questions relating to the competency levels of primary healthcare nurses (PHC nurses), optometrists, ophthalmic nurses and medical officers (MOs) regarding examination procedures in the management of patients with DM and whether they agreed with the developed DR screening model.Results: All the PHC nurses had knowledge about all the examination procedures required in the proposed DR screening model, whilst 94.1% of MOs exhibited knowledge regarding the procedures required from them. Optometrists lacked knowledge of grading DR, and ophthalmic nurses were least knowledgeable about conducting internal and external eye examinations and in detecting and grading DR.Conclusion: The proposed DR screening model did not need modification. The involvement of dieticians and more ophthalmic nurses could be beneficial to the DR screening model.

scholarly journals An Innovative Intervention to Improve Respectful Maternity Care in Three Districts in Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birkety Mengistu Jembere ◽  
Haregeweyni Alemu ◽  
Munir Kassa ◽  
Meseret Zelalem ◽  
Mehiret Abate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Maternity Care ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
Health Facilities ◽  
Respectful Maternity Care ◽  
Training Module ◽  
Experience Of Care ◽  
National Initiative ◽  
Care Training ◽  
Birth Companion

Abstract Background: Mistreatment of women during facility-based childbirth is a major violation of human rights and often deters women from accessing skilled delivery in health facilities. In Ethiopia, mistreatment has been documented to occur in up to 49.4% of mothers delivering in health facilities. This study describes the development, implementation and results of a novel intervention to improve respectful maternity care in Ethiopia. Methods: As part of a national initiative to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in Ethiopia, we developed a novel respectful maternity care training module with three core components: testimonial videos, a skills-building session on communication, and onsite coaching. The respectful maternity care training was conducted in February 2017 in three districts within three regions of Ethiopia. Facility level solutions applied to enhance the experience of care for mothers as a result of the training module were documented. Safe Childbirth Checklist data measuring privacy maintained and birth companion offered during labor and delivery were collected over 27 months from 17 health centers and three hospitals in the three districts. Interrupted time series and a regression analysis were conducted to assess the significance of improvement. Results: Data analysis showed significant improvement in the percentage of births with two elements of respectful maternal care—privacy maintained and birth companionship offered—following the respectful maternity care training, which was sustained beyond the project intervention (regression coefficients ranging from 18% to 77% for births with privacy and with birth companion offered). About 23 local solutions were devised and implemented in the health facilities that improved the experience of care for mothers. Conclusion: This study suggests that integrating the respectful maternity care training into a district-wide quality improvement collaborative is effective in improving respectful maternity care. Use of a multi-pronged approach is especially helpful in enhancing respectful maternity care comprehensively. Testimonial videos helped providers to see their services from their clients’ perspective, while quality improvement training and coaching helped them reflect on potential root causes for this type of treatment and develop effective solutions.

scholarly journals An innovative intervention to improve respectful maternity care in three Districts in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Birkety Mengistu ◽  
Haregeweyni Alemu ◽  
Munir Kassa ◽  
Meseret Zelalem ◽  
Mehiret Abate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Maternity Care ◽  
Regression Coefficient ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
The Other ◽  
Respectful Maternity Care ◽  
Experience Of Care ◽  
National Initiative ◽  
Care Training

Abstract Background Mistreatment of women during facility-based childbirth is a major violation of human rights and often deters women from attending skilled birth. In Ethiopia, mistreatment occurs in up to 49.4% of mothers giving birth in health facilities. This study describes the development, implementation and results of interventions to improve respectful maternity care. As part of a national initiative to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in Ethiopia, we developed respectful maternity care training module with three core components: testimonial videos developed from key themes identified by staff as experiences of mothers, skills-building sessions on communication and onsite coaching. Respectful maternity care training was conducted in February 2017 in three districts within three regions. Methods Facility level solutions applied to enhance the experience of care were documented. Safe Childbirth Checklist data measuring privacy and birth companion offered during labor and childbirth were collected over 27 months from 17 health centers and three hospitals. Interrupted time series and regression analysis were conducted to assess significance of improvement using secondary routinely collected programmatic data. Results Significant improvement in the percentage of births with two elements of respectful maternal care—privacy and birth companionship offered— was noted in one district (with short and long-term regression coefficient of 18 and 27% respectively), while in the other two districts, results were mixed. The short-term regression coefficient in one of the districts was 26% which was not sustained in the long-term while in the other district the long-term coefficient was 77%. Testimonial videos helped providers to see their care from their clients’ perspectives, while quality improvement training and coaching helped them reflect on potential root causes for this type of treatment and develop effective solutions. This includes organizing tour to the birthing ward and allowing cultural celebrations. Conclusion This study demonstrated effective way of improving respectful maternity care. Use of a multipronged approach, where the respectful maternity care intervention was embedded in quality improvement approach helped in enhancing respectful maternity care in a comprehensive manner.

scholarly journals Assessment of learners’ exposure to health education and promotion at school in the Limpopo Province of South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oni H. Tosin ◽  
Takalani G. Tshitangano
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
School Participation ◽  
Physical Changes ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire ◽  
Health Education And Promotion

Background: School participation and educational attainment among adolescents have been rising rapidly in the developing world. Thus, to attain Millennium Development Goal 6 (Combat HIV and/or AIDs, malaria and other diseases), it is crucial to seize the opportunity to educate and encourage teenagers about healthy choices and proper social behaviours that will continue into adulthood.Aim: This study aimed to assess the exposure of rural secondary school learners to health education and promotion at schools in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.Setting: This study was carried out at 10 secondary schools in Vhumbedzi educational circuit.Methodology: The study adopted a cross-sectional quantitative approach. Data were collected from 338 randomly selected learners from 10 secondary schools that make up a rural Vhumbedzi circuit in the Limpopo province. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data.Results: The findings showed that, 102 (66.07%) male and 121 (67.60%) female learners reported that they were taught about physical changes that occur during adolescence. In the same vein, most of the participants (n = 128, 84.39%) and (n = 152, 85.39%) males and females respectively claimed to have been taught about sexually transmitted diseases.Conclusion: In this study the secondary schools in the Limpopo Province of South Africa are making efforts to uphold and expose their learners to health education and promotion at school.Keyword: Health education and promotion, adolescents, school, learners

scholarly journals Is quality maternal healthcare all about successful childbirth? Views of mothers in the Wa Municipality, Ghana

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257401
Author(s):  
Linus Baatiema ◽  
Augustine Tanle ◽  
Eugene Kofuor Maafo Darteh ◽  
Edward Kwabena Ameyaw
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Maternity Care ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Maternal Healthcare ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
West Region ◽  
Adverse Pregnancy ◽  
Wa Municipality

Introduction In spite of the countless initiatives of the Ghana government to improve the quality of maternal healthcare, Upper West Region still records poor childbirth outcomes. This study, therefore, explored women’s perception of the quality of maternal healthcare they receive in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Materials and methods This is a qualitative cross-sectional study of 62 women who accessed maternal healthcare in the Wa Municipality of Ghana. We analysed the transcripts using the analytic inductive technique. An inter-coding technique (testing for inter-coding agreement) was employed. The iterative coding process resulted in a coding scheme with four main themes. We used peer-debriefing technique in ensuring credibility and trustworthiness. Results Logistics and equipment; referral service; empathic service delivery; inadequacy of care providers; affordability of service; satisfaction with services received; as well as experience and service delivery were the parameters used by the women in assessing quality maternity care. A number of gaps were reported in the healthcare system including limited healthcare providers, limited beds and inefficient referral system. Conversely, some of them reported that some healthcare providers offered empathetic healthcare. Contrary views were expressed with respect to satisfaction with maternity care. Conclusion Government and all stakeholders seeking to enhance quality of maternal health and accelerate the attainment of the third Sustainable Development Goal need to reconsider the financing of service delivery at health institutions. Indeed, our findings have illustrated that routine workshops on empathetic healthcare are required in efforts to increase the rate of facility-based childbirth, and thereby subside maternal mortality and all adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Disrespect and Abuse During Facility‐Based Childbirth in North Showa Zone, Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohannes Mehretie Adinew ◽  
Helen Hall ◽  
Amy Marshall ◽  
Janet Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Maternity Care ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Public Health Facility ◽  
Respectful Maternity Care ◽  
P Value ◽  
Disrespect And Abuse ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Cross Sectional

Abstract Background: Respectful maternity care is a fundamental human right, and an important component of quality maternity care that every childbearing woman should receive. Disrespect and abuse during childbirth is not only a violation of a women’s rights, it is associated with a reduction in the number of women accessing professional maternity services and increases the risk of maternal mortality. This study investigated women’s experience of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth in Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 435 randomly selected women who had given birth at public health facility within the previous twelve months in North showa zone of Ethiopia. A structured, researcher administered questionnaire was used with data collected using digital, tablet-based tools. Participants’ experiences were measured using the seven categories and verification criteria of disrespect and abuse identified by White Ribbon Alliance. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the association between experience of disrespect and abuse and interpersonal and structural factors at p-value < 0.05 and OR values with 95% confidence interval. Results: All participants reported at least one form of disrespect and abuse during childbirth. Types of disrespect and abuse experienced by participants were; physical abuse 435(100%), non-consented care 423(97.2%), non-confidential care 288 (66.2%), abandonment/ neglect (34.7%), non-dignified care 126(29%), discriminatory care 99(22.8%) and detention 24(5.5%). Hospital birth [AOR: 3.04, 95% CI: 1.75, 5.27], rural residence [AOR: 1.44, 95% CI: 0.76, 2.71], monthly household income less than 1,644 Birr (USD 57) [AOR: 2.26, 95% CI: 1.20, 4.26], being attended by female providers [AOR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.86] and midwifery nurses [AOR: 2.23, 95% CI: 1.13, 4.39] showed positive association with experience of disrespect and abuse. Conclusion: The level of disrespect and abuse is high and its drivers and enablers include both structural and interpersonal factors. Expanding the size and skill mix of professionals in the preferred facilities (hospitals), and sensitizing care providers and health managers regarding the magnitude and consequences of D&A are strategies that could possibly promote more dignified and respectful maternity care.

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