Globally, there is noticeable threat to midwifery practice because of limited autonomy of midwives in some settings. The situation is not different in Nigeria, despite the evidence that access to midwife-led care is the most important factor in achieving improved outcomes in maternal and newborn health. It is, therefore, imperative to determine the perception and practice of midwife-led care among skilled birth attendants in selected health facilities in a southern State in Nigeria. Following ethical approval, a mixed method design was undertaken to study a convenience sample of 125 skilled birth attendants from health facilities in four randomly-selected local government areas of the State. Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained through questionnaire and focus group discussions respectively. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS version 18 and qualitative data were manually analysed. Results showed that 79.2% had knowledge; 56% exhibited poor practice of midwife-led care. There was statistically significant association between knowledge and practice of midwife-led care at 0.05 level of significance with 1 degree of freedom. Also there was a statistically significant relationship between knowledge and acceptance of midwife-led care at 0.05 level of significance with 123 degrees of freedom. Qualitative data corroborated the quantitative data. Gaps were revealed in the knowledge/perception and practice of midwife-led care in this setting. These have implications for continuing education for midwives and policy formulation towards strengthening midwifery for enhanced maternal and newborn outcomes.
Keywords: Midwife-led model, Perception, Skilled birth attendants, practice
