Women's experiences of living with involuntary childlessness in Uganda: a qualitative phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND: Involuntary childlessness is a global phenomenon that negatively impacts the couple, or the family involved. The experiences of women living with involuntary childlessness have not been well documented in the literature, specifically in the Ugandan context. The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of women living with involuntary childlessness in Uganda. METHODS: A qualitative phenomenological approach was used. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted among women experiencing involuntary childlessness attending a National Referral Hospital. Purposive sampling was, and data saturation determined the actual sample size. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The results are presented in the form of text and narrative quotes from participants. RESULTS: Six themes emerged (i) Inadequate social support (ii) psychological torture (iii) continued grief (iv) marital instability (v) failure attributed to childlessness and (vi) financial constraints. Inadequate social support was in the form of having an unsupportive partner, altered social relation, and altered social status, while women experienced name-calling, emotional abuse, stigma, and blame under the psychological torture theme. Women experienced feelings of distress and grief, including anger, irritability, sadness, stress, and feelings of despair. Women with involuntary childlessness recounted experiencing unstable marriages characterized by infidelity, divorce, abandonment, and polygamous marriages. Some women coped positively, while others employed negative coping strategies such as social withdrawal and isolation. Women who their partners and families well supported coped positively. In contrast, those who did not receive as much support were stressed, sad, angry, and had lost hope of pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, women with involuntary childlessness lacked social support amidst experiences of marital turmoil, psychological torture, feelings of distress and grief, unfulfilled motherhood expectations, and financial constraints while seeking treatment, therefore, there is a need to screen the women for psychological / mental illness symptoms and provide empathetic care and counseling. The prevalence of involuntary childlessness is not well documented in Uganda and a study can be done to determine its extent.

Umbilical artery lactate levels and associated maternal and newborn characteristics at Mulago National Referral Hospital: a cross-sectional observational study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the maternal and newborn characteristics associated with high umbilical artery lactate levels at Mulago National Referral Hospital. DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational study. SETTING: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a national referral hospital located in the capital of Uganda, Kampala. PARTICIPANTS: We randomly selected 720 pregnant mothers at term who presented in labour and their newborn babies. PRIMARY OUTCOME: Umbilical artery lactate level. RESULTS: During the study, there were 579 vaginal deliveries (18 instrumental) and 141 caesarean sections which met the inclusion criteria. One hundred and eighty-seven neonates (187) had high arterial lactate levels. The following factors were associated with an increased likelihood of high lactate concentration: male sex (adjusted OR (aOR)=1.71; 95% CI 1.16 to 2.54; p<0.05), primigravidity (aOR=2.78; 95% CI 1.89 to 4.08; p<0.001), meconium-stained liquor (aOR=5.85; 95% CI 4.08 to 8.47; p<0.001) and administration of oxytocin (aOR=1.97; 95% CI 1.00 to 3.77; p<0.05). CONCLUSION: About a fifth of the babies born in Mulago National Referral Hospital during the study period had high umbilical artery lactate. The maternal-fetal factors significantly associated with high umbilical artery lactate levels included: baby's sex, mother's gravidity, meconium-stained amniotic fluid and oxytocin administration during labour.

Exploring the third delay: an audit evaluating obstetric triage at Mulago National Referral Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Mulago National Referral Hospital has the largest maternity unit in sub-Saharan Africa. It is situated in Uganda, where the maternal mortality ratio is 310 per 100,000 live births. In 2010 a 'Traffic Light System' was set up to rapidly triage the vast number of patients who present to the hospital every day. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the obstetric department's triage system at Mulago Hospital with regard to time spent in admissions and to identify urgent cases and factors adversely affecting the system. METHODS: A prospective audit of the obstetric admissions department was carried out at the Mulago Hospital. Data were obtained from tagged patient journeys using two data collection tools and compiled using Microsoft Excel. StatsDirect was used to compose graphs to illustrate the results. RESULTS: Informal triage was occurring 46 % of the time at the first checkpoint in a woman's journey, but the 'Traffic Light System' was not being used and many of the patient's vital signs were not being recorded. CONCLUSIONS: It is hypothesised that the 'Traffic Light System' is not being used due to its focus on examination finding and diagnosis, implying that it is not suitable for an early stage in the patient's journey. Replacing it with a simple algorithm to categorise women into the urgency with which they need to be seen could rectify this.

Knowledge, attitudes and use of labour analgesia among women at a low-income country antenatal clinic.

BACKGROUND: Childbirth is one of the most painful experiences of a woman's life. Authorities in the fields of obstetrics and anaesthesia encourage use of labour analgesia. Unlike in high-income countries, pain relief in labour in Africa is not a well established service, especially in the low-income countries like Uganda. Little is known about whether parturients would be amenable to labour analgesia. We sought to determine knowledge, attitudes and use of labour analgesia among women attending the antenatal clinic at Mulago National Referral Hospital. METHODS: Upon obtaining institutional approval, we conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study. Women were requested to complete the researcher-administered survey following informed consent. The study was conducted in the general antenatal clinic at the Mulago National Referral Hospital. RESULTS: Of 1293 participants interviewed, only 7 % of the participants had knowledge of labour analgesia. Of the multiparous mothers 87.9 % did not have labour analgesia in their previous deliveries, although 79.2 % of them had delivered in a national referral hospital. The commonest reason for refusal of labour analgesia was to experience natural childbirth. 87.7 % of the participants wanted labour analgesia for their next delivery. CONCLUSION: There is a wide gap between the desire for labour analgesia and its availability. Obstetricians and anaesthesiologists have a role to educate the women, and to provide this much desired service.

Teaching surgical skills using video internet communication in a resource-limited setting.

OBJECTIVE: To study the feasibility and acceptability of using video Internet communication to teach and evaluate surgical skills in a low-resource setting. METHODS: This case-controlled study used video Internet communication for surgical skills teaching and evaluation. We randomized intern physicians rotating in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Mulago Hospital at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, to the control arm (usual practice) or intervention arm (three video teaching sessions with University of California, San Francisco faculty). We made preintervention and postintervention videos of all interns tying knots using a small video camera and uploaded the files to a file hosting service that offers cloud storage. A blinded faculty member graded all of the videos. Both groups completed a survey at the end of the study. RESULTS: We randomized 18 interns with complete data for eight in the intervention group and seven in the control group. We found score improvement of 50% or more in six of eight (75%) interns in the intervention group compared with one of seven (14%) in the control group (P=.04). Scores declined in five of the seven (71%) controls but in none in the intervention group. Both intervention and control groups used attendings, colleagues, and the Internet as sources for learning about knot-tying. The control group was less likely to practice knot-tying than the intervention group. The trainees and the instructors felt this method of training was enjoyable and helpful. CONCLUSION: Remote teaching in low-resource settings, where faculty time is limited and access to visiting faculty is sporadic, is feasible, effective, and well-accepted by both learner and teacher. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II.