Abstract

*Kwesi Terkper, Ahwoi Tettey-Enyo and Alexander Opuku

This study was conducted to assess the care and satisfaction of expectant mothers during labour, birth and lying-in period in Ghana. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants, based on the needs of the study and on predetermined variables. Participants were second or third time mothers, who were admitted in the first stage of labour with a cervical dilatation of not more than 5 cm. They were those who had returned there for their two weeks post natal visits, who had no history of neonatal loss and who had normal vaginal deliveries, excluding forceps deliveries and vacuum extractions. Eight individual interviews were conducted with volunteering respondents within 48 h after delivery. This was followed by two focus group discussions two weeks after delivery. The groups were made up of three and four volunteering respondents. Data were inductively examined using content analysis, the process of first level coding, pattern coding and memoing. The respondents were between the ages of 22 and 37; they had limited educational backgrounds with the exception of two who were graduates from the university and teachers training college, respectively. All participants had two or three previous pregnancies and for at least one of these pregnancies, they have had experiences in the Mampong maternity hospital. The majority (seven) of them gave birth within 2 h of coming to the hospital. Findings from this study have established that: (a) multiple factors influence mothers’ satisfaction with their care in labour, birth and the lying in period; (b) maternal satisfaction during this period is determined mostly by the attitude of care givers; (c) dissatisfaction with care leads to non-usage of the hospital in future or using the hospital only as a last resort. It is recommended that (1) staffs of the hospital have frequent continuing education on communication and interpersonal relationship, (2) The code of ethics of the nursing profession should be strictly enforced, (3) Care givers need to fully understand the exp