Explaination of the Concept of Midwife-Mother Relationship in Delivery Rooms: A Qualitative Content Analysis

The relationship that develops between the midwife and women is at the core of human care. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the communication features of midwifes and mothers in various situations and settings. Thus, their experience in the delivery room can be the basis for the body of knowledge in their profession and provide a clear and comperhensive concept of their relationship based on the prevailing sociocultural context.
The present qualitative content analysis was conducted on 32 participants who were selected through purposive sampling. The participants consisted of 16 midwifes and 16 mothers hospitalized in the postpartum ward of a hospital affiliated to Arak University of Medical Sciences in 2013. Data were gathered through unstructured and semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the conventional content analysis approach. Sampling ceased when data saturation was achieved.
The data analysis revealed 2 themes that encompassed the midwife-mother relationship. The 2 themes were communication as the essence of midwifery care and reflection of communication. Each theme consisted of clasifications and main codes.
According to the results, the concept of the midwife-mother relationship in the delivery room was identified as therapeutic alliance. The findings enhanced understanding of the meaning and dimensions of the midwife-mother relationship beyond the traditional meaning. This study offers evidence of the essence of this relationship and may go some way towards the creation of a written body of midwifery knowledge. The results can assist midwives in providing holistic and high quality care to mothers during labour, and thus, provide positive outcomes in normal child birth.