Women's Perspectives on Cultural Sensitivity of Midwives During Intrapartum Care at a Maternity Ward in a National Referral Hospital in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION: Midwives attend intrapartum women of diverse ethnic backgrounds who each bring their cultural beliefs into the labor and delivery rooms. The International Confederation of Midwives has recommended providing culturally appropriate maternity care in its quest to increase skilled birth attendance and subsequently improve maternal and newborn health. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine midwives’ cultural sensitivity during intrapartum care from women's perspectives, and how this relates to women's satisfaction with maternity care services. METHODS: A qualitative phenomenological design was employed. Two focus group discussions were conducted with 16 women who had delivered in the labor ward of the selected national referral maternity unit. An interpretive phenomenological approach was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: This study revealed ineffective midwife–woman collaboration that excludes the incorporation of women's cultural beliefs in the design of maternity care plans. Emotional, physical, and informational support in the care provided to women during labor and childbirth was found to be incompetent. This suggests that midwives are not sensitive to cultural norms and do not provide woman-centered intrapartum care. CONCLUSION: Various factors implying midwives’ lack of cultural sensitivity in their provision of intrapartum care were identified. Resultantly, women's expectations of labor are not met and this could negatively affect future maternity care-seeking behaviors. This study's findings provide policy makers, midwifery program managers and implementers with better insights for developing targeted interventions to improve cultural sensitivity for the delivery of respectful maternity care. Identifying factors that affect the implementation of culture-sensitive care by midwives could guide the adjustments required in midwifery education and practice.