The sample of this study consisted of 10 postpartum women aged between 22 to 35years (Table 1). Analysis of the interview transcripts depicting the women’s experience of nursing care rendered to them during labor and delivery and their concept of care revealed three main themes: (1) Emotional, physical and informational support (2) Pampering and nice communication and (3) Cordial relationship and eight sub-themes. The findings of the present study provide insight into what care is from the view point of the woman who have given birth and have experienced nursing care. There is therefore, the need to consider these concepts which they consider as care when planning for care of this patient population. The table below (Table 2) represents the meaning units, subthemes and themes.
Table 2. Meaning units, subthemes and themes.
Meaning units
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Subthemes
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Themes
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They felt sorry for me and showed concern
Frequent checks on me, monitoring me, standing by me, always available and the way she cleaned me nicely after delivery and supported me to walk to my bed.
Oh please kindly lie down this way and not that way with a smile. Your labor is progressing well.
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(a)Being sympathetic and empathic
(b)Giving due attention and physical support
(c) Give updates on labor progress and instructions in a friendly manner.
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Emotional, physical and informational support
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Your strong, you are good, well done, you’re brave, you can do it, you can make it, when they use those words and also congratulate you, it encourages you.
Teaching and explaining things without insulting or shouting.
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(a)Sweet-talks, complements, and showering of praises.
(b) Avoidance of verbal abuse
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Pampering and nice communication.
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They showed love, patience and friendly atmosphere.
Being interactive, being nice, and getting to know you.
Didn’t frown their faces, they were laughing, they were smiling and accepted us.
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(a)Being warm-hearted
(b)Establish good rapport
(c) Being welcoming and receptive.
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Cordial relationship
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From the perspectives of women who have experienced nursing care during childbirth, the care phenomena was defined by the formation of concepts such as emotional, physical and informational support, pampering and nice communication and cordial relationship. The concept of emotional, physical and informational support was conceived by having the feeling of receiving emotional and psychological support such as sympathy, empathy, love and updates of labor progress from the staff. Also the laboring women considered pampering and nice communication that is talking nicely to them without insulting them, showering praises and giving complementary remarks to them for efforts they put in to give birth as well as teach them things they don’t know in a friendly atmosphere as good nursing care. The other thing they considered as care was experiencing a cordial relationship which they expected the staff to create.
Emotional, physical and informational support
Due to the physical and emotional effects the women experience during labor and delivery, they expected the nurses and midwives to give them psychological and emotional support by being empathic and sympathetic as well as offer physical support since they are susceptible to exhaustion and also providing them with information regarding the progress of labor. These participants considered nursing care to be good if only the care includes these three categories of support:
Participant 2 “Oh yes, a lot haven’t you heard what I said the way the midwife handled me with love and empathized with me? She cleaned me well and my baby and made us comfortable”.
Participant 6 “ I didn’t deliver in that room, I thought maybe they could have supported me by holding me into the delivery room which I consider as care because by the time I was moving there I was weak but they didn’t do that I had to walk to that room unsupported and lay down. That was what I thought they could have done”
Participant 8 “Humm the only thing I would have preferred would have been for somebody to be rubbing my waist because that eases my pains and for me that is good car. And also to be telling or updating me about the progress or otherwise of the labor”.
Pampering and nice communication
Participants of this study considered pampering and nice communication as a very important aspect of their care. They expressed a major concern regarding how staff communicate to them. The tone and voice of their language. They love being pampered, complemented, praised and efforts they put in being acknowledged. What they dislike most is insulting, disrespecting and shouting on them when being spoken to.
Participant 3 “Yes, they were very caring because they don’t shout on us. You know some nurses don’t have patience and every little thing they will be shouting, insulting and those things, but here I didn’t see it”.
Participant 4 “Actually if someone takes care of you and does not insult you or speak any how to you, you won’t say her care is not good but if she insults you then you will say that the person is not taking good care of you and she does not show concern about you but since I came I have not observed that”
Participant 5 “They were friendly and just pampering me. Sometimes it seems when they are unfriendly and abusive it increases the pain but with pampering you get things easy. Just like the way they were talking to me nicely, begging me to cooperate with them, pampering me until I delivered, this gave me joy and happiness and before I realized I delivered but sometimes you can come and the bad attitude and mishandle will be too much”
Cordial relationship
Another issue that emerged as care and dear to the hearts of the women was the cordiality of staff and environment. They considered it as a concept of care. They love an environment that is welcoming, loving, accepting them and being friendly.
Participant 2 “Yes, truly I feel safe because the way the madam (midwife) treated my husband and myself on arrival made me feel that I was in safe hands. It made me feel that some friends are more than relatives. Because we hadn’t even arrived and the madam quickly met us and with smiles welcomed us, took our bag from us and opened it and looked for the necessary things I needed for the delivery and explained things to us. So this action made us happy”.
Participant 8 “The relationship between you and the staff where there is no shouting but friendly atmosphere. There should be that love, care and concern towards you. It should be a relationship where you feel at home. Every woman will wish that when in labor there would not be shouting on her from the midwife. Also it should not be like you become fed-up with each other”
Participant 7 “Humm well, what I will describe as good care is when I came the way they received me and then how the nurses were interacting with me is something that I really appreciated and I am very happy, when I came, you know some of them will see you they won’t smile, and they will frown their faces but immediately I came with my husband they started, oh lets help her, let’s do this and that for her, she is in labor, go and change your dressing then they started laughing and saying; this one ‘dear’ you won’t give birth now, like in the form of jokes and they were all laughing and smiling with us. Yeah, it was something that I felt, like I was with people. So it was easing my pain somehow”.
Participant 9 “Yes, you see some people are there when they are in pain they shout and make noise a lot and in that instance they (nurses) shout on them. Sometimes asking them to stop that because the midwives have nothing to do about this pain, and that it is normal so in such instances there should be respect for the woman in labor and some sort of pampering, let the person feel she is accepted and loved because some words are there when they are used on you it is not good. There should be a sort of relationship between you as if you already know one another. There should be sweet talks in between you”