Abstract
D.Cur.
Mobility impairment is a category of disability relating to people with varying types of physical disabilities, including upper or lower limb loss or disability, manual dexterity, and disability in coordination with different parts of the body. Research studies have highlighted that of the people living with disabilities, most are women, the elderly, and from low-income families. Women with disabilities in Eswatini face cultural stereotypes, negative attitudes, indirect and direct marginalisation in various areas such as health care. They also experience challenges during pregnancy, labour, and puerperium. There is a paucity of research regarding women with mobility disabilities’ experiences during pregnancy, labour, and puerperium, and no guidelines to facilitate support and holistic maternity care for this population group. Thus, the following research questions were formulated to determine the focus of this study: What are women with mobility disabilities’ and midwives’ experiences of maternity care during pregnancy, labour and puerperium in Hhohho and Manzini regions in Eswatini? and What guidelines can be developed for maternity care for women with mobility disabilities? The purpose of the study was to develop and validate guidelines for maternity care for women with mobility disabilities during pregnancy, labour and puerperium. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual research design with a phenomenological approach was applied to achieve the research goals. The study was conducted in three phases. In Phase 1, women with mobility disabilities and midwives’ experiences of maternity care for these women during pregnancy, labour and puerperium, were explored and described. Purposive sampling was used to recruit women with mobility disabilities and midwives to explore their in-depth experiences of the phenomenon under study. In addition, snowballing sampling was utilised to identify women with mobility disabilities who could participate in the study. In-depth, individual phenomenological interviews were conducted to collect data as well as field notes. A thematic coding method was applied to analyse the data...