Maternity nurses’ practices for the first stage of normal labor: An instructional package
Research Abstract
The labor process is a critical and transformative experience for women, requiring respectful and evidence-based nursing care. Maternity nurses play an essential role through continuous assessment, advocacy, emotional support, and the promotion of physiologic childbirth. Effective nursing practices combine technical competence with empathetic and culturally sensitive care, contributing to improved maternal outcomes. Instructional packages have been recognized as effective educational strategies for enhancing the quality of maternity care, particularly during the first stage of labor. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of an instructional package on maternity nurses’ practices regarding the first stage of normal labor. A quasi-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design was utilized. The study was conducted in the labor units of Beni-Suef University Hospital and Beni-Suef Specialist Hospital. A convenience sample of 50 maternity nurses participated in the study. Data were collected using two tools: (I) a structured interviewing questionnaire in the Arabic language to assess nurses’ general characteristics, and (II) an observational checklist to evaluate nurses’ competency in practices related to the first stage of labor. The findings revealed that 56.0% of the participating nurses were aged between 20 and 29 years, 54.0% resided in rural areas, 66.0% graduated from technical nursing institutes, and 56.0% had less than five years of professional experience. Nurses’ incompetency rates markedly decreased from 64.0% before implementation of the instructional package to 14.0% after the intervention. Incompetent practices were more prevalent among rural nurses in both the pre- and post-intervention phases. Moreover, incompetency rates declined among nurses with secondary school and bachelor-level education after the instructional package. Incompetent practices were also more common among nurses with less than five years of experience. The study concluded that the instructional package significantly improved maternity nurses’ practices during the first stage of normal labor, enhancing competency levels across different demographic and professional characteristics. Periodic in-service training programs are recommended to strengthen nursing care during labor and to expand the use of instructional packages to the second and third stages of childbirth.
Research Keywords
maternity nurses' practices, first stage of normal labor, instructional package, nursing competency, maternal care.