Assessment of midwifery care providers intrapartum care competencies, in four sub-Saharan countries: a mixed-method study protocol

Abstract

Background We aim to assess competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) of midwifery care providers as well as their experiences and perceptions of in-service training in the four study countries; Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda as part of the Action Leveraging Evidence to Reduce perinatal mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa project (ALERT). While today more women in low- and middle-income countries give birth in health care facilities, reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality have been less than expected. This paradox may be explained by the standard and quality of intrapartum care provision which depends on several factors such as health workforce capacity and the readiness of the health system as well as access to care. Methods Using an explanatory sequential mixed method design we will employ three methods (i) a survey will be conducted using self-administered questionnaires assessing knowledge, (ii) skills drills assessing basic intrapartum skills and attitudes, using an observation checklist and (iii) Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to explore midwifery care providers’ experiences and perceptions of in-service training. All midwifery care providers in the study facilities are eligible to participate in the study. For the skills drills a stratified sample of midwifery care providers will be selected in each hospital according to the number of providers and, professional titles and purposive sampling will be used for the FGDs. Descriptive summary statistics from the survey and skills drills will be presented by country. Conventional content analysis will be employed for data analysis of the FGDs. Discussion We envision comparative insight across hospitals and countries. The findings will be used to inform a targeted quality in-service training and quality improvement intervention related to provision of basic intrapartum care as part of the ALERT project. Trial registration: PACTR202006793783148—June 17th, 2020.

Evidence-informed framework for gender transformative continuing education interventions for midwives and midwifery associations

“…Include elements specific to the needs of midwifery in the given context. For example, scope-of-practice, role of midwives at the service level, financial challenges or solutions, remuneration, professional self-awareness, midwifery philosophy of care, and leadership competencies such as advocacy or communication2 3 6 20 27 28 38 40 47 54–56 60–63…”

Midwifery care providers’ childbirth and immediate newborn care competencies: A cross-sectional study in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda

“…The study protocol was published in the Journal of Reproductive Health in 2021 and outlines the methodology for the design and conduct of the assessment of midwifery care providers’ childbirth and newborn immediate care competencies [ 27 ]. The protocol also outlines a qualitative component pertaining to provider experiences and perception related to in-service training but in this paper, we only report on the results from the quantitative study.…”

“…We calculated descriptive statistics, mean or proportion of all variables of interest. No inferential statistics were calculated due to the small study sample size, which would have produced implausibly broad, non-informative, confidence intervals as per the study protocol [ 27 ]. No imputation was performed for missing data.…”

Midwifery care providers’ childbirth and immediate newborn care competencies: a cross-sectional study in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda

“…We calculated descriptive statistics, mean or proportion of all variables of interest. No inferential statistics were calculated due to the small study sample size, which would have produced implausibly broad, non-informative, confidence intervals as per the study protocol [26]. No imputation was performed for missing data.…”

“…This study is part of the Action Leveraging Evidence to Reduce perinatal morTality and morbidity in the sub-Saharan Africa project (ALERT). The project received ethical approval from the following institutions: The study protocol was published in the Journal of Reproductive Health in 2021 and outlines the methodology for the design and conduct of the assessment of midwifery care providers' childbirth and newborn immediate care competencies [26]. The protocol also outlines a qualitative component pertaining to provider experiences and perception related to in-service training but in this paper we only report on the results from the quantitative study.…”