Description
The project is dealing with improving the level of realization of human and patient rights of parents, especially women in the vulnerable period of transition to parenting in perinatal health system. It focuses on the right to privacy by taking care of the very important need of the baby, mother and father: the need for uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact (SSC) of the mother and the baby along with the father's support in the first hour after birth. The goal is to empower future parents and to strengthen midwifery students at their transition to practical work; to support 14 maternity hospitals in Slovenia in realization of SCC. As a watchdog for advocacy to parents and future parents, the project promoter will educate and inform about the right to privacy and SCC, and prepare the Initiative for SSC to be delivered to the Ministry of Health. Target groups are parents, future parents, midwifery students, maternity hospitals, individual healthcare professionals, Slovenian ombudsman and patient rights advocates.
Summary of project results
Project was focused on one of the very important needs: the need for uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact (SSC) of mother and the baby along with the father's support in the first hour after birth. The right to privacy is very poorly recognized and violated in many aspects. Healthcare professionals are still very under informed about the key role SSC plays regarding the health of children and mothers and about its immense importance. Beneficiary widely spread information, educated, informed about and promoted the right to privacy and SSC by different means and managed to reach parents, future parents, stakeholders, maternity hospitals, individual healthcare professionals, Slovenian ombudsman, patient rights advocates etc. Within the project it was monitored how the right to privacy is respected in Slovenian maternity hospitals, and at the same time the midwifery students were supported so they would be able to ensure the implementing the right to private life in practice. Forging ties between midwives, doctors, doulas, mothers and fathers, representatives of patients' rights and breastfeeding counsellors culminated at an all-day Hug Me Gently event which provided nine lectures and productive discussions. The event gained much attention and was well covered by the media. The highlight of the event was the manual imprinting of the Hug Me Gently emblem on cotton nappies, symbol of compassionate care in the first hours after birth. During the project implementation several individual consultations were carried out, advocacy was provided to the parents and many birth stories were collected. All that served as a core, which was upgraded with beneficiary's knowledge, careful analysis of acquired literature on the topic and developed to the "Gentle Initiative". The initiative calls attention to the needs of the children, mothers and fathers in the first hours after birth and proposes creation of conditions in which they will be met. The final document Gentle Initiative was delivered to different stakeholders like Ministry of Health, Ombudsman and patient rights advocates. Through ensuring SSC with the aim of respecting the right to private life beneficiary helped to empower more than 300 future parents and more than 30 midwifery students at their transition to practical work as well as influenced the improvement of practice in 14 Slovenian maternity hospitals.
Summary of bilateral results