Tag Archives: Deinfibulation
A qualitative study of women's lived experience after deinfibulation in the UK
Midwifery. 2013, 29(2); 154–158
Safari F
Objective: to explore women's experiences of deinfibulation and its aftermath. Design: a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with data collection via audio-recording and field notes. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method for qualitative data analysis. Setting: recruitment for the study was carried out in an African Well Women Clinic in London, United Kingdom. Participants: there were nine women participants of Somali and Eritrean origin who had Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) type III previously and underwent deinfibulation between January 2008 and September 2009. Findings: key themes identified were the cultural meaning and social acceptability of deinfibulation; the consequences of deinfibulation within marital relationships; feelings about the appearance of genitalia post deinfibulation and thoughts on reinfibulation. Conclusions: marital factors and stability of the relationship influence the experience of deinfibulation. Those women who said they had discussed deinfibulation with their husband in advance, and that he had agreed to the procedure, reported less problems afterwards. Single women who had deinfibulation before marriage may face more difficulties in terms of social acceptability within their community. Implications for practice: sensitivity to social consequences of deinfibulation is important as well as recognition that these consequences vary. When deinfibulation is carried out for medical purposes some women may appreciate the offer of an official letter from a health-care practitioner confirming the medical nature of the procedure. The data suggests that deinfibulated women may dislike the new appearance of their genitalia; therefore, the practicality of performing a concurrent minor cosmetic surgery with deinfibulation procedure may need to be examined. The need for further research conducted in women's primary language is pressing and should explore issues such as the situation of single women, men's knowledge of the complications associated with FGM and the benefits of deinfibulation for infibulated women.
This entry was posted in Archives, Blog, Original research and tagged Deinfibulation, Interview, Nurse Midwives, Qualitative Research, United Kingdom on January 22, 2015 by AfWORO.
Management of type III female genital mutilation in Birmingham, UK: A retrospective audit
Midwifery. 2014, 30(3):282–288 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2013.04.008
Paliwal P, Ali S, Bradshaw S, Hughes A, Jolly K
Objectives: to audit clinical management of women with type III female genital mutilation (FGM) according to local guidelines. Secondary objectives were to describe the population that uses the service and compare obstetric outcomes of intrapartum deinfibulation and antenatal deinfibulation. Design: retrospective audit. Setting: a hospital midwifery-led FGM specialist service in Birmingham, UK. Participants: 253 women with type III FGM who gave birth between January 2008 and December 2009 Methods: retrospective case analysis using patient records. Main outcome measures: proportion of women managed according to locally agreed criteria for the management of FGM; obstetric outcomes including perineal tears, episiotomy rates, estimated blood loss, infant APGAR scores and indications for caesarean section. Findings: 91 (36%) women booked into antenatal care after 16 weeks gestation. Only 26 (10.3%) were managed fully according to guidelines. The area with poorest performance was child protection, where the presence of normal genitalia was documented in only 52 (38.8%) of medical notes following birth of a female infant. The majority of women (214, 84.6%) had been deinfibulated in a previous pregnancy. Of the 39 infibulated at booking, only 9 (23.1%) were deinfibulated antenatally, the rest opted for intrapartum deinfibulation. Women who had intrapartum deinfibulation had a higher average blood loss and more tears than those deinfibulated antenatally, although this was not statistically significant. Conclusions and implications for practice: alternative systems should be considered to improve documentation of child protection related information. Further research is needed to confirm or refute the adverse findings among those that delayed deinfibulation.
This entry was posted in Archives, Blog, Original research and tagged Cohort Studies, Deinfibulation, Nurse Midwives, Obstetric Labor Complications, United Kingdom on January 22, 2015 by AfWORO.