Opinions and practices of midwives working in the delivery rooms on informed consent in vaginal deliveries

Şahiner P., Utkualp N.

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, cilt.27, sa.11, ss.15-22, 2023 (SSCI)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 27 Sayı: 11
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.29063/ajrh2023/v27i11.2
  • Dergi Adı: AFRICAN JOURNAL OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, EMBASE, Index Islamicus, MEDLINE
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.15-22
  • Kocaeli Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Obtaining informed consent from women for vaginal birth both safeguards their autonomy and establishes a legal foundation for

midwives. This study aimed to determine the opinions and practices of midwives on obtaining valid informed consent for vaginal

deliveries. This descriptive study was conducted between November 2021 and December 2022 in two different cities of Turkey,

Bursa and Kocaeli. Data were analyzed with Chi-square test. In the study all midwives who had not received ethics training had a

common perception that informed consent merely involved obtaining a signature and was a standard practice for vaginal birth

(p=0.002). In the study, 92.9% of the midwives reported that they found it necessary to obtain informed consent in vaginal

deliveries, 97.6% reported that they provided verbal information. However, information provided by midwives for valid informed

consent was mostly not comprehensive (range 44.4%-80.2%). Most midwives (80.2%) focused on highlighting the benefits of

vaginal birth for mothers, with comparatively less emphasis on communicating information regarding the potential risks and

complications associated with vaginal birth for newborns. The high percentage of midwives who considered it necessary to obtain

informed consent in vaginal deliveries in our study suggests that these midwives are well aware of the significance of informed

consent.