Views of Nurses, Obstetricians, and Mothers Regarding Independent Nurse-Midwifery Practitioner: A Mixed-Method Study

Abstract

Background:The maternal and neonatal health indicators in India are not getting better despite various national schemes and interventional programs. The main reason is nonaccess to the primary care services by the people at the grass-root level, mainly due to lack of trained health-care resources.Objective:Therefore, this study aimed to explore the perception, scope of practice, and perceived barriers of independent nurse midwifery practitioner (INMP) among nurses, obstetricians, and postnatal mothers.Materials and Methods:A convergent parallel, mixed-method design was used in this study. Quantitative data were collected by using a self-structured, 5-point Likert scale to assess perception and perceived barriers; and a structured opinionnaire to explore the perceived scope of practice of INMP from 260 nurses, obstetricians, and mothers. A semi-structured interview was conducted for qualitative data from 48 study participants. Quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics (Kruskal Wallis test), and RQDA software was used for qualitative data analysis.Results:The results show that the participants have favorable perceptions about INMP. The majority believed that INMPs could do most of the tasks as per recommendations about their scope of practice with few limitations. Though, there might be collaboration issues and role conflicts between obstetricians and INMPs initially. Participants also identified various ways to overcome the barriers for INMP.Conclusion:This study revealed that there is a dire need for INMPs in developing countries like India. Overall, participants felt that INMPs would be successful to practice in India if the government comes up with such cadre in the future.