Midwives Knowledge aboutTheir Legal Duties in Kermanshah City

Abstract

Introduction: Midwife as a health care professionalin variety aspects of reproductive health should be familiar with her duties. This study was performed to investigate the knowledge of occupational midwives about their legal duties.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in January 2010 until May 2011 on a population of 220 occupational midwives in governmental and private centers, who were willing to participate in this study at Kermanshah city. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire including items about legal duties adapted from midwifery regulation in Iran, which was completed by study participants. Study data was analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: Among the study populations, %28.2 had well knowledge about their legal duties and 16 percent was very poor.Conclusion: According to research findings, knowledge of majority of midwives about their legal duties was moderate. This finding reveals the importance of legal duties education to occupational midwives.