the barriers of mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact at birth in the midwives viewpoint

Aims: skin-to-skin contact between mother and newborn is a crucial component of maternal and newborn care, promoting breastfeeding and bonding. this study aimed to identify the barriers to implementing skin-to-skin contact guidelines at birth from the perspective of midwives working in hospitals in yasuj, iran.instrument & methods: this descriptive cross-sectional study involved 88 midwives employed at two hospitals in yasuj in 2024. data were collected through interviews using a questionnaire comprising two sections: demographic characteristics and questions addressing seven categories of barriers to implementing the skin-to-skin contact guideline. the questionnaire’s validity was assessed using the content validity index. data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency tables and central and dispersion indices, with spss version 16 software.findings: the midwives’ ages ranged from 25 to 59 years, with a mean of 35.91±8.482 years. their work experience in maternity hospitals ranged from 1 to 26 years, with a mean of 6.672±6.68 years. according to 48 midwives (54.5%), skin-to-skin contact in the hospital was not performed according to the guidelines. the identified barriers were midwives’ knowledge barriers (4.5%), human resource barriers (39.8%), environmental barriers (4.5%), content-related barriers in the guideline (2.3%), maternal and newborn safety barriers (17%), cultural barriers (5.7%), and managerial and supervisory barriers (19.3%).conclusion: the primary barriers to implementing the skin-to-skin contact guideline at birth are human resource limitations, managerial and supervisory issues, and concerns related to maternal and newborn safety.