Midwifery Care for the Amazigh of Morocco A Scoping Review of Barriers to Care

Main Article Content

Mona Abdel-Fattah
Partner and midwife at Community Midwives of Hamilton, Ontario

Patricia McNiven
Associate Professor, McMaster University Midwifery Education Program, Hamilton, Ontario

Anne Niec
Paediatrician, McMaster Hospital and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University, Toronto

Keywords

Morocco, midwifery, education, scoping review

Abstract

Despite improvements in health care services, Morocco continues to experience poor perinatal outcomes in rural and remote regions. In response, a series of initiatives were proposed including strategies to strengthen the profession of midwifery which was identified as a key component. In 2008 a Moroccan framework for midwifery education, regulation, and funding was established. Midwifery care, while highly utilized in urban hospitals, is not accessed as frequently in rural regions. A scoping review examined the social barriers to midwifery uptake using the Arksey and O’Malley’s 2005 framework. The socio-cultural context was found to significantly impede the uptake of midwifery care and thus impact maternal and neonatal outcomes. Language barriers, cultural differences, gender inequality and socioeconomic factors were found to be key barriers impacting the acceptability of midwifery care in rural Morocco.



RÉSUMÉ
Malgré l’amélioration des services de soins de santé, le Maroc continue de connaître de mauvaises issues périnatales dans les régions rurales et éloignées. En réaction à ce problème, des initiatives ont été proposées, y compris des stratégies de renforcement de la profession de sage-femme, qui a été déterminée comme étant un volet essentiel. En 2008, un cadre marocain a été établi pour l’enseignement, la réglementation et le financement de la pratique sage-femme. L’accès aux soins des sages-femmes n’est pas aussi fréquent dans les régions rurales que dans les hôpitaux urbains, où les services des membres de la profession sont très utilisés. Un examen de la portée a été réalisé à l’aide du cadre de 2005 d’Arksey et O’Malley afin d’étudier les obstacles sociaux à l’utilisation des services des sages-femmes. On a constaté que le contexte socioculturel nuisait de façon significative à l’adoption des soins des sages-femmes et qu’il avait ainsi une incidence sur les issues maternelles et néonatales. Les barrières linguistiques, les différences culturelles, l’inégalité entre les sexes et des facteurs socioéconomiques se sont révélés les principaux obstacles à l’acceptabilité des soins des sages-femmes dans les régions rurales du Maroc.

Abstract 409 | PDF Downloads 120 XML Downloads 106 HTML Downloads 121

Article Sidebar

PDF XML HTML
Published
Mar 6, 2024
DOI https://doi.org/10.22374/cjmrp.v23i1.20

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 23 No. 1 (2024): CJMRP
Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Mona Abdel-Fattah, Partner and midwife at Community Midwives of Hamilton, Ontario

Mona Abdel-Fattah is a partner and midwife at Community Midwives of Hamilton in Ontario. She holds a BHSc in Midwifery from Toronto Metropolitan University and a MSc in Global Health from McMaster University. Mona is an instructor and clinical preceptor at McMaster University in the Midwifery Education Undergraduate Program and instructor and course developer in the Master of Science in Midwifery Program. Mona is passionate about improving health equity for marginalized communities through improving availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of sexual and reproductive health care services in midwifery and through task-shifting and expanded scope. This passion has led Mona to take a leadership role in the IUD and contraception services at Crown Point Midwives, to improve access to clients in Hamilton’s North and East End communities and to newcomers to the city. She later developed a training program for health care providers, including midwives, for skills in contraceptive care and IUD insertion. Mona has a special interest in health care services for North African and the Middle Eastern populations due to her Egyptian background and multicultural upbringing and works closely with this population in her clinical practice.

Patricia McNiven, Associate Professor, McMaster University Midwifery Education Program, Hamilton, Ontario

Dr Patricia McNiven is an Associate Professor in the McMaster University Midwifery Education Program where she has been teaching since 1993. Patricia completed her PhD in the faculty of medicine at the University of Toronto in 1996. Patricia was the former president and founding board member of the Canadian Association of Midwifery Education. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice. She has been involved in global health projects in Russia, Morocco, and northern Canada. As a faculty member at McMaster University, she has been involved in curriculum design and content analysis, faculty development, assessment of clinical competence and distance problem-based learning. Patricia was an elected member of the University Board of Governors as well as a member of the University Senate.

Anne Niec, Paediatrician, McMaster Hospital and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University, Toronto

Dr Anne Niec is a paediatrician at McMaster Hospital and a professor in the department of pediatrics at McMaster University. She completed her Pediatric Residency Training at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and holds a fellowship in Child/Adolescent Psychiatry from the Children’s Hospital/Judge Baker Children’s Centre, Harvard University, Boston, MA. Within McMaster she is director of the Child Advocacy and Assessment Program and the Gender and Health Initiative at the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). She is an ethics resource after serving as an Ethics Consult for HHS for more than five years. She holds an appointment as Faculty Lead, Professionalism to the FHS and provides ombuds and mediation services in this capacity. Dr. Niec is involved in undergraduate, postgraduate and interdisciplinary education both from the direction of student teaching and administration in addition to community, university and hospital education.