Educating future professionals in perinatal medicine: the attitude of medical and nursing students towards childbirth

Abstract

ObjectivesThe main objective of the present study was to evaluate what educational needs were being neglected in current perinatal educational program in the University of Malaga.MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional study using the Students’ questionnaire on attitudes towards childbirth (CAVE-st) in a sample of 378 students who were finishing their undergraduate or postgraduate academic perinatal program, including medical and nursing students.ResultsThe Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was 0.895. The mean score of CAVE-st in the sample was 200.34 (DT 21.0). The scores were below the median value in more than 53% of the students, especially in medical students. Female students scored systematically higher in the overall scale and its subscales, even after adjusting for study groups. On the other hand, the students with children scored significantly lower in the subscale that explored their attitudes towards unexpected results. A huge margin for improvement was recognizable in those subscales related with childbirth medicalization, respect to women decisions, and health-care prioritization.ConclusionStudents’ attitude towards childbirth need to be improved as a means to improve women’s childbirth experience and prevent birth-related trauma. The current undergraduate and postgraduate training in perinatal care lacks a comprehensive and biopsychosocial perspective that would improve the quality of clinical practice during childbirth.

Obstetricians’ Attitude towards Childbirth

“…The questionnaire included an informed consent document, a brief explanation of the reasons why the research was being held, the questionnaire on attitudes towards childbirth (CAVE, acronym for "cuestionario de actitudes sobre vivencias y experiencias en el parto") [17,18], and a series of sociodemographic questions such as gender, age, city of residence and work, type of practice (public/private), and whether the participant had children. The survey was anonymized and included an authorization request for the subsequent analysis of the collected data.…”

“…In addition, content validity was undertaken by a Delphi panel of 16 experts, over 2 rounds. The validation process has already been published [17], and the scale has been used in previous studies [18]. The Spanish language validation resource showed that the questionnaire was a valid and reliable tool, with a Cronbach s alpha coefficient of 0.…”