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Midwives’ perspectives on women’s decision-making in family planning and their own professional role in relation to family planning counselling: A qualitative study using focus group discussions, Somaliland
Dalarna University, School of Health and Welfare.
2021 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (professional degree), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Currently, developing countries like Somaliland are facing the devastating consequences of high maternal mortality and morbidity. Fulfilling women's rights to make autonomous decisions concerning pregnancy and increase access to Family Planning (FP) plays a crucial role in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality by preventing unsafe abortion and pregnancy complications caused by short birth intervals. The country has one of the lowest rates of contraceptive use and the highest rate of unmet contraceptive needs and there is little existing evidence about women’s decision-making power in relation to FP and midwives’ role in providing FP information and counseling to enable women to make an informed decision about FP methods. Therefore, exploring midwives’ perspectives on women’s decision-making in FP and their professional role in providing FP counseling can be used as an entry to understanding the hidden barriers to the lowest uptake rate of FP in Somaliland, which can assist policymakers in making the right decisions when developing different programs.Aim: This qualitative study aimed to explore midwives' perspectives on women’s decision-making in FP and to explore midwives’ professional role in providing FP counseling.Methodology: Qualitative method using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) (n= 6) were conducted with Somali midwives in Somaliland. A qualitative content analysis has been used for data analysis.Results and Conclusions: Our study findings showed FP service provision including counseling should be the midwife’s responsibility because of their position to provide continuous care to women from a life course perspective. However, midwives lack basic and in-service training, clear role and responsibility in practice and care guidelines supporting and enabling them to work in their full potential. There is a cultural norm of having men’s consent for FP service which is acting as a barrier for women's access to FP. However, some women navigate and circumvent socio-cultural norms to gain their agency in FP and midwives support these women. Therefore, there is a need for midwives’ empowerment to practice to their full scope which in turn plays a crucial role in supporting and empowering women to access and use FP services in Somaliland.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021.
Keywords [en]
Family planning, Decision making power, Midwives role, Child spacing, Focus Group Discussion, Somaliland
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-37582OAI: oai:DiVA.org:du-37582DiVA, id: diva2:1576788
Subject / course
Sexual Reproductive Perinatal Health
Available from: 2021-07-01 Created: 2021-07-01 Last updated: 2022-03-07

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • chicago-author-date
  • chicago-note-bibliography
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf