A descriptive study to assess the attitude regarding birth companion initiative among nurses working in maternity units of selected hospital of Delhi

Background: Birth Companion Initiative is a low-cost and effective intervention to improve the quality of maternity care, including women’s experience of childbirth. It is imperative to study the attitude of stakeholders towards a new initiative to determine success of its implementation. Objective: To assess the attitude of nurses towards Birth Companion Initiative. Methods: A descriptive survey was designed to assess the attitude of Nurses working in various units of maternity department of selected hospital of North India. A tool was developed and validated by the researchers which included questionnaire to collect data on background information, awareness regarding Birth Companion Initiative and a 15-item attitude rating scale to assess the attitude of nurses towards Birth Companion Initiative. A sample of 62 Nurses working in Labor Room, Gynae OPD and Maternity Wards was recruited by convenient sampling. Nurses were explained about the nature and purpose of study. Data was collected with the help of validated tool. Descriptive analysis was done to highlight the findings. Results: Majority (66%) of Nurses were fully aware about the concept of Birth Companion Initiative. The mean attitude score (51.19) was found to be neutral with a standard deviation of 6.82. Most (60%) of the Nurses had neutral attitude, whereas only 1.6% had unfavourable attitude towards Birth Companion Initiative. Conclusion: For successful implementation of the Birth Companion Initiative, it is imperative to hold discussions and training of the nurses at multiple points, in order to understand their concerns and influence their attitude.