Awareness and Willingness of Women to Utilize Non- Pharmacological Obstetric Analgesia in Reducing Labour Pain at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano

Abstract

With the advance in health care delivery, obstetric analgesia is now routinely administered in most developed countries; however, in developing  countries including Nigeria, childbirth is still a painful natural process for most women. This study was conducted to assess the awareness and willingness of women within the reproductive age to utilize non-pharmacological obstetric analgesia in reducing labour pain. An explanatory mixed  method design was utilized for the study. For the quantitative component, a validated interviewer administered questionnaire was administered to  247 randomly selected women that delivered at AKTH who were attending immunization clinics. The qualitative study utilized an interview guide to  conduct 4 key informant interviews with core health care personnel. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while content  analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Results showed that the respondents have a mean age of 28.30 ± 7.5 years. Less than one fifth 42  (17%) of the respondents were aware of the use of non-pharmacological analgesics in reducing labour pain. An overwhelming majority of the  respondents 234 (94.7%) indicated their willingness to use of non-pharmacological obstetric analgesia. More than three quarter 195 (78.9%) of the  respondents stated that they will prefer non-pharmacological obstetric analgesia to any other form of pain relief in labour. It was concluded that  although majority of respondents were willing to utilize the non-pharmacologic analgesia in reducing labour pains if made available, the level of  awareness was ironically low. The study therefore recommends the need to include the teaching of non-pharmacologic analgesia during antenatal  sessions. This is with view of increasing the level of awareness of nonpharmacological analgesia among women.