Abstract
This qualitative research aimed to investigate the reasons the health services of Santa Catarina, Brazil, do not allow the presence of the birth partner of choice of women in the birthing process. The data were collected from September 2011 to January 2012 through semi-structured interviews with 12 nurses responsible for obstetric centers which did not permit, or permitted sometimes, the presence of the birth companion. The interviews were analyzed using the Discourse of the Collective Subject, in which three themes emerged: professionals' resistance to the presence of the companion; lack of physical infrastructure and human and material resources; and the institution's resistance to implementing the Companion's Law. The discourses show that impeding the presence of the companion is mainly related to the decision of the professionals and the inadequacy of the organizational structure. This requires changes in the attitude of the staff, institutional support, and management strategies to increase the support for the presence of the woman's companion of choice.
Highlights
In Brazil, since 2005, Law N. 11,108, known as the “Companion’s Law” has obliged the health services to allow the presence of a companion, chosen by the parturient woman, throughout the period of labor and birth and the immediate postpartum period.[1]
The Central Idea(s) (CI) emerged from the analysis of the nurses’ accounts, and were grouped into three themes: “The professionals resist the presence of the companion”; “Lack of physical structure and human and material resources”; and, “The institution resists the implementation of the Companion’s Law”
The CIs and their respective Discourse of the Collective Subject (DCS) were identified with the same numbering
Summary
In Brazil, since 2005, Law N. 11,108, known as the “Companion’s Law” has obliged the health services to allow the presence of a companion, chosen by the parturient woman, throughout the period of labor and birth and the immediate postpartum period.[1]. 11,108, known as the “Companion’s Law” has obliged the health services to allow the presence of a companion, chosen by the parturient woman, throughout the period of labor and birth and the immediate postpartum period.[1] So as to regulate the companion’s presence in the public and private ambit, other documents were published such that this right might be guaranteed to all parturient women. It should be borne in mind that the right to a companion was provided for in the Program for Humanization of Pre-Natal Care and Childbirth, launched in 2000,5 prior to the publication of the Companion’s Law,[1] and that at the present time it is reinforced in the directives of the Stork Network*, a policy directed at care for women’s health, instituted in 2011.6
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
