Emotional support of a labouring woman.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out how much emotional support is given during labour and delivery to women who deliver in the University Teaching Hospital (U.T.H.), and to further find out whether or not the same women are satisfied with the care given. This was in order to bring attention to both care givers and the authority to the factors which contribute to inability to give quality care. The literature used in the study was obtained from text books and studies done in other countries, since no such studies were conducted in Zambia.The findings of the study revealed that most of these patients were satisfied with emotional support given during labour and delivery. Twenty one out of thirty (70%) respondents said that they were satisfied with the care given to them, in the first stage of labour. During delivery all those who passed through second stage twenty --five (83%) of the total number of respondents said that they were satisfied with the care given.The factors which dissatisfied the patients were: shouting at the patient, talking in hush voices, giving inappropriate re-assurance, unfriendly attitude, being left alone, no information about the condition of the baby, anticipated time of delivery and about the progress of labour. Inability of midwives to come when they were called by a woman in first stage of labour. The authorities are advised to give praise where it is due and critically analyse the bad behaviour and culprits should be warned about that.