Midwives’ role in drop-out antenatal care at second visit: Therapeutic and interactive communication in the Lombok Tengah District, Indonesia

Abstract

Visiting health center for getting ANC service, at least four times during pregnancy consisting of the first visit (K1) during the first trimester, the second visit (K2) during the second trimester, and K3 and K4 visit during the third trimester must be done by pregnant women in Indonesia. The objective of this research is to analyze therapeutic and interactive communication by midwives during ANC service. This observational research used cross sectional design. The sample size is 30 women with babies under six months old from 3 PHCs working areas in Lombok Tengah District. Among all therapeutic and interactive communication indicators performed by the midwives, only responsive indicator in therapeutic communication showed insignificant influence on K4 of pregnant women. The other indicators showed significant impact. More than 50% of respondents said that midwives providing ANC had poor attending skill, respect, responsiveness, empathy, informing, persuading, and reminding. The conclusion is that the worse the pregnant women perception of midwives communication behavior is, the higher the chance for the pregnant women to drop-out during K4 is.