| This study explored the lived experiences of rural auxiliary midwives, or matrones, in Mali, West Africa. In a setting of high maternal mortality, Malian matrones are the first and only formally-trained health care worker women may ever access. Matrones are therefore critical to efforts to reduce maternal mortality. Presently, however, little is understood about matrones in Mali. The aim of this interpretive phenomenologic study was to understand their experiences. The study was guided by gender and Primary Health Care frameworks. Individual, in-depth interviews were conducted with twelve matrones in their local language. Interview transcripts were translated using an adapted committee approach. The interpretive process included seven interviews and followed a team-based, multi-stage iterative process. Two constitutive patterns expressed the phenomenon of matroniya, or matronehood. The first pattern, "Providing Bridges", described how matrones are a bridge in their communities, linking traditional and biomedical models of care. The second pattern, "Living Between", described how matrones are changed by their roles. They are between the traditional and biomedical models of care, the rural community and urban setting, and between the roles of rural community women and educated working women. Gender played an important role in matrones' professional and personal lives. The findings have implications for the reduction of maternal mortality and gender inequality, two of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. |
