HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS VAGINAL BIRTH AFTER CESAREAN SECTION; İSTANBUL EXAMPLE

Abstract

Rapidly increasing cesarean birth rates around the world continue to cause concern. Repeated cesarean sections are the most important causes of this increase. Vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC) is a good solution, but is not used widely enough in clinical practice. This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to determine the attitudes of healthcare professionals towards VBAC and the factors that affect them. The study was conducted at a maternity hospital in Istanbul and sample included 254 healthcare professionals. The data were collected using a personal information form and the VBAC Attitudes Form. Percentages, means, Pearson’s chi-squared test, the Kruskal-Wallis H test and the Mann-Whitney U test were used. The threshold for statistical significance was p<0.05. Of the participants, 66.1% saw VBAC as an effective mode of birth, 68.5% thought that it should be widely used in Turkey, and 85.4% thought that women have the right to request VBAC. But only 53.5% knew that Turkey has national VBAC management guidelines, and 37.8% would recommend VBAC to pregnant women. Their mean score for seeing VBAC as a safe mode of birth was 5.15±2.19 (min:0-max:10), and the score for willingness to work on VBAC teams was 4.95±3.42 (min.0-max:10). The factors that affected their attitudes towards VBAC were: being less than 25 years old, higher education levels, one to three years of professional experience and being female(p<0.05). The participants had positive attitudes about VBAC in theory, but remained reluctant about it in their clinical practice. The participants who were less than 25 years old, female, had higher education levels and had one to three years of professional experience had more positive attitudes towards VBAC.

Keywords

• Attitudes
• cesarean sections
• healthcare professionals
• vaginal birth after cesarean section

Supporting Institution

None

Project Number

None

Thanks

The authors are grateful for the healthcare professionals who so willingly gave their time and participated in this study.

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