The Thoughts and Practices of Midwives about the Usage of Upright Positions in Normal Spontaneous Vaginal Birth

In this study, carried out to determine the thoughts and practices of midwives about the usage of upright positions in normal spontaneous vaginal birth, all of 89 midwives working at the delivery rooms of nine State Hospitals of Muğla Health Directorate were considered. Data were collected via a questionnaire prepared by the researcher during September-November 2011 by midwives? self-reports. Data were analyzed by Chi-Squire, Fisher?s Exact Chi-Squire and Kruskal Wallis-H tests. The mean age of the midwives was 37,9±5,074 and 67,4% were had associate degree, 83,1% were married and 60,7% were working since 1-10 years in delivery rooms. Of midwives, 58,4% served 1-2 pregnant women at the same time during labor 88,8% led women giving birth and they often take advantages of the physicians? recommendations in their applications (%78,7). Of midwives 96,6% were not educated about the usage of the upright positions, but 40,4% knew the upright positions used during the 1st stage of the labor and 14,6% knew the upright positions used during the 2nd stage of the labor. Of midwives 85,4% knew that women should be given freedom to move freely during the 1st stage of labor, 75,3% told that they permit the usage of the free position, and 67,5% told the positive effects of such approaches; at the 2nd stage, however, 71,9% of midwives told that pregnant women should not be given freedom to move freely or they did not know it and 86,5% told that they do not permit the free position. All midwives find the upright positions appropriate in the 1st stage and use them, however, in the 2nd stage 95,5% find appropriate and 82,0% use them. All midwives let women giving birth in the lithotomy position. In the first stage, 92,1% of midwives support the usage of upright positions and 64,0% find the delivery rooms appropriate. In contrast, 70,8% of midwives do not support the usage of upright positions in the 2nd stage, 95,5% do not find the delivery rooms appropriate and 81,7% wont the improvement of the physical conditions of delivery rooms. In the 2nd stage, finding the upright positions appropriate was affected by the person who decides the mode of the delivery, and the usage of upright positions was influenced by the mode of the delivery practiced at the units midwives working, the state of demand and allowance of midwives to give pregnant women freedom to move and walk freely and being knowledgeable with the upright positions in the 1st stage (p<0,05). In conclusion, it was determined that midwives know some of the upright positions used at the 1st and 2nd stages of the delivery and they want to get education about the subject, they find appropriate and use upright positions for the 1st stage rather than for the 2nd stage, all of them find and use the lithotomy position appropriate for the delivery, and although they are open to and support the usage of the upright positions on delivery, they do not find the conditions of the delivery rooms appropriate for such practices. Key words; labor, upright positions, midwife, thoughts and practices.