Quality midwifery care during childbirth at a midwife obstetric unit: A qualitative study

Background Globally, there is an increasing focus on enhancing the quality of midwifery care. In public institutions, primary care midwifery is provided at a midwife obstetric unit (MOU). Midwives at MOUs are the first contact that pregnant women have when accessing midwifery care. There exists a no...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Curationis (Pretoria) Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. e1 - e8
Main Authors: Martin, Sedeeka, Filies, Gérard C., Robertson, Anneline E.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: South Africa AOSIS 22.10.2025
African Online Scientific Information Systems (Pty) Ltd t/a AOSIS
AOSIS (Pty) Ltd
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis
Census of Population
Childbirth
Childbirth & labor
Data collection
Delivery, Obstetric - standards
Female
Humans
Information management
Interviews
Interviews as Topic - methods
Maternal child nursing
midwife obstetric unit
Midwifery
Midwifery - methods
Midwifery - standards
midwifery care
Midwives
Morbidity
Mortality
Obstetrics
Parturition - psychology
Pregnancy
Pregnant women
Qualitative Research
quality
Quality control
Quality of Health Care - standards
South Africa
women
Womens health
South Africa
childbirth
midwife obstetric unit
midwives
midwifery care
quality
women
ISSN:0379-8577, 2223-6279, 2223-6279
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background Globally, there is an increasing focus on enhancing the quality of midwifery care. In public institutions, primary care midwifery is provided at a midwife obstetric unit (MOU). Midwives at MOUs are the first contact that pregnant women have when accessing midwifery care. There exists a notable disparity in the perception of quality midwifery care between midwives and women. In South Africa, there has been a scarcity of research examining the perspectives of midwives and women, regarding the quality of midwifery care provided during childbirth. Objectives The objective of this study was to explore and describe women’s and midwives’ perceptions of the quality of midwifery care during childbirth, at a MOU in Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Method A qualitative exploratory descriptive design was utilised. Four women and five midwives were selected through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken, transcribed and analysed utilising Tesch’s eight-step approach to qualitative data analysis. Results Three themes emerged: (1) understanding of quality midwifery care, (2) experiences of women during childbirth and (3) support received by women and midwives. Conclusion The quality of midwifery care remains compromised within the MOU setting due to various challenges encompassing limitations of both human and physical resources. It is imperative to establish a shared understanding of what constitutes quality midwifery care, as women and midwives often perceive it differently. Contribution Midwifery care during childbirth requires the engagement of all stakeholders, including women, to enhance the quality of midwifery care provided.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:0379-8577
2223-6279
2223-6279
DOI:10.4102/curationis.v48i1.2773