- Title
- Experiences of midwives regarding the use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological labour pain interventions in Lejweleputswa district in Free State
- Creator
- Parkies, Limakatso Elizabeth
- Subject
- Anesthesia in obstetrics
- Subject
- Labor (Obstetrics)
- Subject
- Pain -- Treatment
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27187
- Identifier
- vital:66387
- Description
- Due to the disabling effects of severe labour pains, labour pain management remains an important topic in midwifery and needs to be reviewed more often. According to studies, various pain relief options, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological, are available to help women cope with pain, but midwives did not employ these techniques adequately because of various experiences. Studies further indicate that, though the limited number of these techniques were employed they were not effective on some women. Thus, the purpose of this research study was to explore and describe midwives’ experiences on pharmacological and non-pharmacological labour pain management in the Lejweleputswa District of the Free State Province. This study employed a qualitative, descriptive, explorative, and contextual design. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the participants. The target population was midwives who work in the maternity wards of the institutions under study with three to five years’ experience in midwifery. Individual, face-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted; these were recorded for the researcher’s reference purposes, so as not to overlook important information. In addition, the researcher made use of field notes, recording in them what was heard, observed, felt, experienced, and thought during the interview. Ethical principles and trustworthiness were maintained throughout this study. Data analysis was done using Tesch’s approach to open coding in qualitative research. Confidentiality and anonymity were ensured throughout the interviews. The nine themes and 19 sub-themes that emerged during data analysis were discussed comprehensively. The findings indicate that midwives use both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods in managing labour pain. Some methods are effective in relieving pain for certain mothers, while other methods proved ineffective. Midwives administer Pethidine and Phenergan as per doctors’ prescription; non-pharmacological methods, such as back massage, deep breathing exercises, mobilisation, and warm baths or showers are also employed. Midwives provide pharmacological methods to all women in labour, and routinely employ non-pharmacological methods. Although the midwives are willing to manage patients’ pain, they face certain challenges, such as shortage of staff, increased workload, as well as inadequate resources. This leads to inadequate provision of non-pharmacological care. In conclusion, the midwives’ experiences were that both pharmacological and non-pharmacological techniques were used for all labouring women and they had relaxing and calming effects on some women, resulting to them giving birth with ease, although for some they were not effective. In addition, the pharmacological interventions caused drowsiness to some women and babies. The findings will provide evidence-based information to the Free State Department of Health in order to assist policymakers and stakeholders in initiating and developing appropriate policies, guidelines, and interventions that can improve labour pain management. The Free State Department of Health should consider using other opioids and non-opioids in managing labour pain to broaden the scope of pain relief methods available to the midwives.
- Description
- Thesis (MPH) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2019
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (95 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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UFH Department of Public Health
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Parkies_201928120_MPH Mini Dissertation.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |