Page 24 - Non-western women in maternity care in the Netherlands • Exploring ‘inadequate’ use of prenatal care and the experiences of care professionals

afford it. The midwives also described how they were more likely to pay home visits to clients with whom they had difficulty communicating by telephone.
My personal experience is that it’s best to pay them a home visit. I often came across some big problems by paying them a home visit. They sometimes called for something that did not seem really urgent, but when I went on a home visit, I came across something very urgent. The information I got from them wasn’t complete. So most times I thought, ‘I’ll just pay them a home visit, and then I am reassured that everything is okay’. (R13)
Taking them by the hand
The midwives were also confronted with situations where non-western clients had received care in their native country. These clients sometimes expect the same kind of care in the Netherlands, e.g. more laboratory investigations or more ultrasound scans. In these situations, midwives have to spend extra time explaining the Dutch maternity care system, the leading role of the midwife during uncomplicated pregnancies and childbirth, and the importance of postnatal care to these clients
Well, most people are quite well aware of how it works. It also depends a bit on how big their network of family or friends is in the Netherlands. I guess they tell each other how it works. And if you have a very small network, you have no idea where to go. So, you always need to kind of check how much people actually know. I mean, she’ll probably know that she needs to visit you for checkups, but may have no idea what the maternity care assistant does and may sometimes be a bit reluctant because they think, ‘Well, my mother-in-law will come and do all the housework’. So then you have to invest extra time explaining that the maternity care assistant has more functions than just cleaning the house. (R2)
Using alternative methods of communication
All the midwives talked about using alternative methods of communication. Several midwives said that telephone interpreting is essential in their work with non-western clients. Even if clients bring someone along as an interpreter, it is not always possible or appropriate to discuss everything
140 Non-western women in maternity care in the Netherlands