Midwives perceptions of partner presence in childbirth pain alleviation in Nigeria hospitals

- We explored the views of midwives on the use partner presence for pain alleviation during childbirth.
- Midwives believe partner presence is important and contributes to labour pain relief.
- Partner presence is poorly utilized by midwives in Nigeria hospitals.
- A policy on partner presence as an intervention for pain management during childbirth is seen as a positive step by midwives.

Objectivepartner presence in the labour room can influence childbirth pain outcomes and maternal well-being. We examined midwives' perception of the use of partner presence in the management of childbirth pain in Nigerian hospitals.Designa descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study.Settingmaternity units of four hospitals in Abuja, Nigeria, Jun.-Dec., 2014.Participants100 midwives selected through convenience sampling.Measurementsdata collected using the Abuja Instrument for Midwives (AIM) questionnaire underwent frequency, correlation, and content analysis.Findingsmost midwives felt partner presence contributed to pain relief and were willing to allow partner presence as an intervention for childbirth pain. However, only every fourth midwife reported using partner presence as a pain management intervention. Key Conclusion: partner presence is perceived as contributing to pain relief and is a non-pharmacological technique reported to be utilised by midwives for pain management during childbirth. However, Nigeria suffers from poor utilisation of partner presence as a pain management intervention during childbirth.Implication for practiceinformation from this study can improve midwifery practice and aid further research regarding midwives' attitudes, knowledge and usage of partner presence in pain management during childbirth.