Female birth companion for labor support: Perception and experience of health care providers

Abstract

Background: The International Childbirth Initiatives aims to provide a respectful, evidence-based, and positive birthing experience to women. So, it is important that the women are counseled well before, during the antenatal period, and during labor and are given a choice of companion, doctor, hospital, and choice of her alternative birthing position. The aim was to assess the perceptions and experience of healthcare providers with the presence of a female Birth Companion (BC) for labor support. Method: A mixed-method observational study was conducted. The laboring women included in the study were mostly from rural areas, as the tertiary care hospital is situated in a rural area. Perceptions and experiences of health providers about 213 BCs were collected. The validated questionnaire was used to assess the perceptions of health providers through Google form. The information was downloaded as a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file. Data was analysed using Microsoft Excel. Result: On evaluating the responses to each BC, 92.95% senior nurses were highly beneficial, 4.6% were somewhat beneficial, and 2.34% were not beneficial. The junior nurses were of the opinion that 79.81% were highly beneficial, 16.9% were somewhat beneficial, and 3.28% were not beneficial. Junior resident doctors said that 77.46% were highly beneficial, 19.71% were somewhat beneficial, and 2.81% were not beneficial. The senior resident doctors said that they were highly beneficial 86.38%, 11.73% were somewhat beneficial, and 1.87% were not beneficial. Most healthcare providers' perceived that BC gave physical,emotional support and confidence to laboring women. Some health providers had challenges like rude behavior,inattentiveness, and disturbing behavior of BCs. Conclusion: Most of the BCs during continuous laboring support were highly beneficial as per the perceptions and experience of the health care providers.