Return to search

Experiences of labouring women of unexpected neonatal resuscitation

Experiences of women regarding unexpected neonatal resuscitation were studied in this research. The objective of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of labouring women whose babies required unexpected resuscitation at birth. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the study. Labour and birth do not always go as well as expected as deviations could happen at any of the four stages of labour. Midwives tend to focus on the neonate when resuscitation is needed and leave the mother unattended and wondering what is happening as they rush away with the neonate. The situation motivated the researcher to conduct the study. The focus was on the experience of during the time of resuscitation. The study is qualitative, and exploratory, descriptive, contextual and narrative research approaches were used to reach the objective. The research population included women who delivered in the identified site from six hours to six weeks post delivery period. Inclusion criteria were the following: Women must have attended antenatal care at least four times. Their pregnancies were categorized as low risk. The ages of the women were 18-35 years. Gestational age was 38-41 weeks. The neonate should have been resuscitated successfully and admitted for observation in the nursery. Non-probability, purposive sampling was used. Data was collected by conducting semi-structured one-on-one interviews using a tape recorder. The site for the study was a public hospital, and the managers and operational midwives were used as gatekeepers. Fifteen participants gave permission to participate in the study willingly and were interviewed individually and anonymously. The interviews were transcribed, and Creswell’s data analysis spiral image was used. The period for data collection was seven months in one academic year. An independent coder’s services were utilized to increase the trustworthiness of the findings. The trustworthiness of the study was also ensured by conforming to Lincoln and Guba’s model of trustworthiness. Strategies used to ensure trustworthiness were credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability. The researcher maintained the ethical standards for conducting research by adhering to ethical principles, such as human rights, beneficence and justice. Confidentiality was maintained by using numbers instead of names, and only the researcher knows the participants’ names. Only the researcher, supervisor and the independent coder have access to the information. The data is kept in a locked cabinet and will be kept for the next five years following the publication of results. Two main themes emerged from the data analysis with each having two sub-themes Mothers verbalized varying emotions regarding their neonates’ inability to breathe properly. Mothers verbalized the importance of receiving support and information from midwives. To optimise the discussion of research findings, direct quotes were used from the raw data of interviews to support the description of experiences. Recommendations for midwives were to prepare the pregnant women during antenatal care for unexpected emergencies during labour and to reinforce this information on admission when labour commences. Managers are to update the guidelines on maternity care and the health education checklist. Nursing schools should train student midwives in debriefing and counselling skills. Both study objectives were successfully met.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:28650
Date January 2015
CreatorsSenti, Nomphiwe Priscilla
PublisherNelson Mandela University, Faculty of Health Sciences
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, Masters, MCur
Formatxi, 96 leaves, pdf
RightsNelson Mandela University

Page generated in 0.002 seconds