City Research Online

Abstract

The increase in medical intervention has had a significant influence over the last century in western and developed countries, and such practices continue to increase despite efforts to encourage normal childbirth. The aim of this project is to explore the use of interventions during the second stage of labour among healthcare professionals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and determine what factors may be influencing their use. It builds on the findings of my Master’s dissertation, which identified a high rate of routine interventions. To fulfil this aim, the research includes data from an exploratory qualitative study, conducted using an ethnographic approach. Data collection methods included participant observations of 19 labours and births (11 in HA and 8 in HB) and semi-structured interviews with 29 healthcare professionals (16 in HA and 13 in HB) comprising obstetricians [n=10], midwives [n=12], nurses [n=6] and nurse-midwife [n=1] from two government hospitals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In addition, the hospital labour and delivery ward policies and guidelines from those hospitals were also collected. Data were collected between October 2011 and September 2012 in Jeddah, after seeking ethical approval from City University London and from each of the hospitals involved in the study. All participant observations, interviews, field diary, and hospital documentation was recorded using a word processing package (Word 2010) and then transferred into qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) (Atlas.ti 7), which was used for the data analysis. My first impressions of these data are that there are many interventions used during labour and births, which are influenced by many factors mentioned by the healthcare professionals during the interviews or observed during birth. These factors are likely, however, to cluster into a smaller number of broad themes. One of the major themes that I am currently analysing is the routine use of the Electronic Foetal monitoring (EFM).

Publication Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Subjects:	R Medicine > RG Gynecology and obstetrics
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Midwifery & Radiography

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