PERCEPTIONS OF MIDWIVES REGARDING THE ROLE OF TRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTS DURING POSTNATAL CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA

This paper describes the perceptions of midwives regarding the role of traditional birth attendants during the provision of postnatal care, aimed at making recommendations to empower the midwives with the knowledge and skills of indigenous postnatal care practices that are employed by traditional birth attendants during the postnatal period. In South Africa as a developing country postnatal patients are discharged home by the midwives after six hours post delivery if the condition of both the mother and the baby is satisfactory, therefore, postnatal care is rendered at home by the traditional birth attendants only without the involvement of the midwives. As a result the midwives are not aware about the indigenous postnatal care practices used by the traditional birth attendant when taking care of postnatal women. Knowledge gained from this study may assist midwives to identify and address indigenous practices which are a threat to the health of women during postnatal care; as a result the standard of postnatal care might be improved. A qualitative study using in-depth individual interviews with midwives, was followed during data analysis. The findings revealed two themes, namely: (1) positive perceptions of midwives regarding the role of traditional birth attendants during postnatal care,(2) negative perceptions of midwives regarding the role of traditional birth attendants in postnatal care... It is recommended that there should be teamwork between the midwives and the traditional birth attendants in order to strengthen the referral system of postnatal patients between the clinics/hospital post delivery and to enhance and maintain continuity of postnatal care.KEYWORDS:, , midwife, indigenous practices, traditional birth attendants.Â