OPINIONS OF MIDWIFERY STUDENTS, PUERPERANT AND COMPANIONS ABOUT THE MALE MIDWIFE

Abstract

Introduction and aim: The midwifery profession is generally known as a profession that women choose and perform. In our study, it was aimed to evaluate the opinions of the students studying in the midwifery department, and the puerperant and companions in the obstetrics. Method: It’s a cross-sectional analytical study. The data were collected through forms prepared by the researchers. The universe of the study consisted of Midwifery Department students studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences of a state university, and all women who gave birth in two separate state hospitals and their attendants. The sample of the study consisted of 221 students, 72 puerperant and 72 companions who agreed to participate in the study with the improbable sampling method between December, 2019 and February, 2020 and met the inclusion criteria. In the analysis of the research data, number and percentage distributions were taken, chi-square test and one-way ANOVA analysis were performed. Results: 85.1% of the students stated that the lack of male recruitment had no effect on their choice of midwifery, 48.4% stated that they wanted to work with the male midwife in their professional lives, 46.6% stated that men could contribute to the strengthening of the profession. 47.2% of the puerperant states that midwifery is a woman's profession, 44.4% of them do not approve of men being a midwife profession, 59.4% of those who do not agree do not want male midwives because of their embarrassment. 58.3% of the companions stated that they approve of male midwives to be in the profession and 52.8% stated that they would not be disturbed in terms of the care given by the male midwife to their puerperants by the male midwife. Conclusions and recommendations: It’s determined that the inclusion of males in the midwifery profession is better welcomed by students and companions; puerperants have reservations. Efforts should be made to eliminate the gender gap in providing healthcare services.