Delivery Pain Anxiety/Fear Control between Midwives among Women in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: To examine background of midwives the effectiveness in delivery pain and anxiety/fear control of expectant mothers in Nigeria. Methods: Two null hypotheses were formulated. The survey design with sample of 360 post-natal women was selected from a population of 78,814 through the polio immunization registers of selected health center in cross river states. Accidental sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The instrument used for collecting data for the study was a 36-item questionnaire. Independent t-test and contingency chi-square were used in testing the null hypotheses. Results: The result showed that women delivered by traditional midwives have more positive control of delivery pain caused by anxiety/fear than their counterparts who delivered by the western midwives; Conclusion: Based on these finding the study concluded that traditional midwives are actually different from their counterparts. All what they need is workshops, seminar, conferences during ante-natal period to acquaint the traditional midwives with delivery related activities and procedures. It was also recommended that the traditional midwives should be given adequate western training so that they can face the society and avoid further complications. Government should continue to train more midwives to help reduce the anxiety/fear state of women during delivery.