Lived experiences of nurses and midwives about pregnancy and childbirth care among tribal women at secondary level health care facilities of Madhya Pradesh, India.

Introduction: Tribal communities are distinct across the India and state of Madhya Pradesh. Thereare few shreds of evidence that addressed the inadequacy of health status in the tribal population ascompared to the non-tribal population. Pregnancy and childbirth care is compounded by issues likepoor nutrition and the education level of girls. Suboptimal access to maternal health services due totraditional beliefs, violence against women and substance abuse are significant. Objectives: Thisstudy is focused to explore and understand the experiences of nurses in maternity care catering tothe tribal population. Material & Methods: A phenomenology study was conducted. Twocommunity health centres from a tribal district were selected. Six in-depth interviews were carriedout to probe the experiences of nurses, data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 8 software. Results:Major themes that are reflected by nurses are difficult transportation, the high volume of normalvaginal deliveries, initial experiences of conduction of normal and assisted delivery, social andprofessional isolation and traditional tribal practices of pregnancy and childbirth. Conclusion:Understanding the nurses’ experiences are sufficient evidence to render culturally oriented maternitycare and reform the tribal public health system