Midwives' views on maternal positions during the second stage of labour

Abstract

Maternal birthing positions are believed to be related with various maternal, fetal and neonatal factors. Although literature generally states that upright positions are better than horizontal positions, it is generally emphasised to encourage mothers to give birth in the position they find most comfortable. Midwives are in the best position to provide the required information to mother, so that they can make informed choices about the birthing position they wish to adopt. This small-scale, non-experimental, quantitative study was aimed to explore midwives' views on maternal positions during the second stage of labour. Convenience sampling was used. Data was obtained from a self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire which was distributed to 30 midwives working either in the labour ward of the main public maternity hospital or in the maternity section of a private hospital in Malta. 28 midwives (93%) responded. Findings revealed that respondents preferred the horizontal positions over the upright positions. Despite this, most respondents showed that they are willing to accept maternal choices. Most midwives were not provided with special education regarding birthing positions. The participants of the study also believed that this subject should receive more attention in the midwifery course and ongoing midwifery education programs. A limitation of the study was that it was a small-scale study, and the sample was not representative of the midwifery population. Therefore the results cannot be generalised.