The Outcome of Midwife-Mother Relationship in Delivery Room: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Effective communication and emotional support of parturient women improve the outcome of childbirth. Reduction in Duration of labor, cesarean rate, use of anesthesia, and 5 minute Apgar Score less than 7 can achieve. This study was a part of a large mixed method study during 2013-2014. In this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 32 participants (16 mother and 16 midwife), using semi-structured interviews. Participants were recruited by purposive sampling with maximum diversity in terms of age, occupation, education and etc. Educational hospital of Arak University of Medical Sciences was considered as the setting. Each interview was conducted at a private and convenient location and took about 30 to 45 minutes. Interviews were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. Conventional content analysis was done for data analysis. Interviews continued until data saturation was obtained. Data were coded in MAXQDA software (version 11). The main category emerged as “outcome” of midwife-mother relationship. Facilitating childbirth, positive experience, mental health promotion and improvement in quality of life were derived as subcategories. Good midwife-mother relationship could promote positive outcome in labour. Results could assist midwives in providing holistic quality care to mothers during labour, thus providing positive consequence in child birth. Also, results could provide a framework and guidance for policymakers to create appropriate context for the midwife-mother relationship in maternity care. Corresponding author.