Kontakt 2022, 24(3):199-204 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2022.026

Women's childbirth expectations and perceived effects of COVID-19 protocols on deliveryNursing - Original article

Victoria U. Enwereji-Emeka¹, Chikaodili N. Ihudiebube-Splendor^{1, 2, *}, Faith C. Diorgu¹, Paulina C. Chikeme², Chidinma E. Israel²

¹ University of Port Harcourt, African Centre of Excellence for Public Health and Toxicological Research, Department of Midwifery/Child Health Nursing, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

² University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu Campus, Department of Nursing Sciences, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

Aim: The study assessed women's childbirth expectations and perceived effects of COVID-19 protocols on delivery in selected healthcare facilities in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria.

Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design. 304 women were purposively recruited from March through December 2020 from selected healthcare facilities in Umuahia. A validated researcher-developed questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics of frequencies, means, and standard deviations.

Results: Major findings showed highly rated expectations of women during childbirth were women's involvement in decision making about their care (3.69 ± 3.20), provision of adequate information on baby care (3.65 ± 3.17), and positive attitude of healthcare providers (3.59 ± 3.11). A greater number of the participants strongly agreed that COVID-19 lockdown led to severe labor outcomes (3.25 ± 2.98) and delays in observing COVID-19 protocols by skilled personnel during delivery pose a great threat to mother and baby (3.58 ± 3.12). On the other hand, observation of social distancing by midwives (1.57 ± 1.28) and testing women for COVID-19 before admission (1.96 ± 1.58) did not have any negative effect on the women's delivery.

Conclusions: Women's involvement in decision making concerning their birth plans and care are among the women's expectations for their birth. Healthcare providers need to fully understand these expectations and provide care that is consistent with them. It is also essential that information provided to antenatal women, especially during pandemics, is comprehensive and comprehensible. This should be used to openly communicate issues that may impact their birth experience, particularly in pandemics.

Keywords: Childbirth expectations; COVID-19 protocols; Delivery; Perceived effect; Women

Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interests to disclose.

Received: June 17, 2022; Revised: August 25, 2022; Accepted: September 12, 2022; Prepublished online: September 21, 2022; Published: October 5, 2022  Show citation