| dc.description.abstract | All mothers and newborns deserve competent care and continuous support during the intrapartum period (Tinker et al., 2006:269). According to the Saving Mothers: Fifth Report on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in South Africa, 2008-2010 (SA, 2011:4), the maternal mortality rate (MMR) is 176.22/100 000 live births (SA, 2011:4). The majority of maternal deaths are preventable and have many common preventable factors which are mostly related to the knowledge and skills of the healthcare providers and the challenges within the health care system (SA, 2011:5). The research was conducted in an attempt to make a meaningful contribution to the body of knowledge, specifically knowledge related to the experiences of women regarding the quality intrapartum care in a public hospital in Gauteng Province, and to make recommendations to enhance the quality of intrapartum care. A qualitative study design was used and data collected with the use of individual in-depth interviews. Purposive sampling was used to select participants who represent the target population. The sample used for the study included all women who had given birth within 24 hours before the interviews by normal vaginal delivery. A pilot study was conducted and the interview schedule was finalised. Sixteen individual in-depth interviews were done until data saturation had been achieved. Trustworthiness was ensured according to the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. A digital voice recorder was used to capture data and the data were transcribed verbatim. Field notes were written down for each interview.
Data analysis was done by means of content analysis by the researcher and an independent co-coder. Themes and sub-themes were identified. The findings indicated that most of the women's experiences were positive regarding the quality of intrapartum care while a lesser percentage had had negative experiences. Identified areas of concern are staff attitudes, communication and staff shortages. Conclusions drawn are that women's experiences of quality of intrapartum care were that it is not of the highest standard. There is a need for provision of continuous emotional support during labour, improvement of staff attitudes and promotion of rooming-in, and a need not to be separated from their babies for long periods of time The research concluded with the researcher's recommendations for policy, nursing practice, nursing research and nursing education, for the enhancement and adherence of midwives to recommendations in improving the quality of intrapartum care in public hospitals. | en_US |
