Western and Traditional Educational Background of Midwives and Delivery Pain Control among Women in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study sought to investigate western and traditional educational background of midwives with regard to their effectiveness in delivery pain control in Cross River State - Nigeria. To achieve this purpose, two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the investigation. The study adopted the survey design. The sample consisted of 360 post-natal women selected from a population of 78,814 through the polio immunization registers of selected health centers. 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. The result showed that women delivered by traditional midwives have more positive control of delivery pain caused by attitude of midwives than their counterparts who delivered by the western midwives; On the basis of these finding it was concluded that western 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 retain so that they can face the society and avoid further complications. Government should also continue to train more midwives to avoid negative attitudes towards their clients.