Dukun's Partnership with Midwives in Delivery Assistance in a Qualitative Study in East Manggarai District

Background and objectives: The partnership between traditional birth attendants and midwives is one strategy to increase the coverage of delivery assistance by health workers. This partnership has not been going well, where there are still traditional birth attendants who provide delivery assistance independently. This study aims to determine the description and obstacles in the implementation of the partnership between shamans and midwives in East Manggarai Regency.

Methods: Qualitative research with in-depth interviews using open interview guidelines was conducted on 15 purposively selected participants, consisting of two village midwives, five shamans who partnered with midwives, three shamans who did not partner with midwives, and two community leaders, one religious leader. , two postpartum mothers and one policy holder. Data were analyzed by thematic analysis approach.

Results: The results showed that the facilities and infrastructure supporting the partnership were not sufficient, the funds provided were not sufficient to finance the implementation of the partnership so that there were no regular meetings between the midwife and the shaman, and the coordination was only incidental. Although the division of roles in handling childbirth is clear, many obstacles were found, namely transportation, economic barriers and there are still traditional birth attendants who do not want to partner.

Conclusion: The partnership between traditional birth attendants and midwives in delivery assistance is constrained by many obstacles, both internal and external, it requires sufficient funds, providing transportation facilities and counseling to the community for coverage of delivery assistance by health workers.

Keywords: partnership, shaman, midwife, childbirth, qualitative