Midwives’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 essential health care services in pregnancy, childbirth and lactation

Aims Midwives, who manage maternal and infant health during the COVID-19 pandemic, need special attention. The present study was designed to examine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of midwives. Methods This study was a cross-sectional online survey via the social media platform WhatsApp that was conducted in April 2020 on 360 midwives working in educational hospitals or urban health centers in Mashhad, Iran. The data collection tool was a self-structured questionnaire consisting of two parts of demographic data and another part for measuring midwives’ knowledge, attitude, and practice, which was designed electronically and implemented online after evaluating its validity and reliability. Data analysis was performed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods in SPSS. Finding 188 midwives answered the questionnaire, of which the mean score of knowledge, attitude, and practice was 34.35±5.59, 45±4.24, and 16.02±2.57, respectively. Only 44.7% had good practice in dealing with a pregnant mother infected by Covid-19. The mean knowledge score was not significantly different between the midwives working in different health care wards. However, the highest positive attitude was related to midwives working in urban health centers (73.1%). The highest practice score of practice was assigned to hand hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment for Covid-19. Conclusion Improving midwives’ awareness through encouraging them to participate in scientific programs and in-service training, using up-to-date guidelines issued by World Health Organization, as well as studying the new evidence are significant approaches to promote midwives’ knowledge and practice during the outbreak of COVID-19.