A caesarean section (C/S) is an operation in which the baby is delivered through incisions made in the mother’s abdomen and uterus [1] . A caesarean birth is recommended when a normal vaginal delivery is impossible or difficult and would put the wellbeing of the mother or the baby at risk [2] . Caesarean section indications include: placenta praevia, cephalopelvic disproportion, fetal distress, presentation of the baby and prolapsed cord [3] . Before the incision is made, the skin is prepared to reduce wound infection in the operating room by applying a surgical solution, and hair is removed from the operative site with a razor [4] .

There are different types of caesarean sections. A lower segment caesarean section is the most common type, because it causes less bleeding, which means less chances of blood transfusion [5] . A classical caesarean section is another type rarely performed, because it has a higher rate of uterine rupture. Women undergoing caesarean section are at risk for multiple intraoperative complications, including excessive bleeding, injury to adjacent organs such as the bladder, bowel, gastrointestinal tract and maternal death [4] . Women who undergo a caesarean section often have a wound which requires monitoring and care. A study regarding caesarean section wound care and pain relief [6] revealed that removing the dressing after the first 24 hours postoperative had multiple advantages: wounds can be easily observed for primary signs of complications and personal hygiene is easier to carry out without a wound dressing. Caesarean section rates continue to bring worldwide concern because of their fast increase [7] . Caesarean deliveries were mainly carried out to separate the mother and the foetus in an attempt to save the foetus of a mother at a dying point [8] . This operation then became a surgical procedure to resolve both maternal and fetal complications, which cannot be resolved by vaginal delivery [9] .

According to a study regarding the increasing trend in Caesarean section rates: Global, Regional and National Estimates: 1990-2014, [7] revealed that currently 18.6% of all births occur by caesarean section. Between 1990 and 2014, the global average caesarean section rate increased with an average annual rate of increase of 4.4%. The lowest rate was found in Africa specifically in western Africa followed by Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North America, with Latin America and the Caribbean having the rates at 40.5%. South America is the sub region with the highest average of caesarean section rates in the world [7] . According to [10] , the followings are some of points regarding maternal WHO: improving the availability, accessibility, quality and use of services for the management and treatment of complications of pregnancy, labour and delivery. As such, the WHO has defined a concept of emergency obstetric care services “EmOC” which requires, for a basic level of services, that an institution will be able to provide intravenous antibiotics, utero tonic drugs, and intravenous magnesium sulphate and have the health care workers who remove a placenta manually [10] .

According to WHO (2015) caesarean section can cause critical and sometimes chronic complications, disability or death particular in settings that lack the facilities and capacity to properly render care to mothers undergone this surgical procedure and treat surgical complications. For many women child birth is exciting, joyous and empowering experience. For others it can be one of the most traumatic events of their lives. Memories of childbirth can vivid, deeply felt, and last many years perhaps a lifetime. For some it is quite an experience that leaves them feeling distressed, confused, and angry [1] . Students are the main concern when it comes to the care of mothers, mainly because they are inexperienced and not competent with the aseptic technique and psychological care of the mother, therefore it is important to study the experience of students regarding care of mothers’ undergone caesarean section at postnatal ward at Katutura State hospital.

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of second year University of Namibia nursing students regarding caring of mothers’ undergone a caesarean section at postnatal ward at Katutura State Hospital. While the objectives of this study were to explore the experiences of second Year University of Namibia nursing students regarding caring of mothers’ undergone a caesarean section at postnatal ward at Katutura State Hospital and describe the experiences of second year University of Namibia nursing students regarding caring of mothers’ undergone a caesarean section at postnatal ward at Katutura State Hospital.

A qualitative, explorative, descriptive, and contextual approach was employed to explore and describe the experience of second year UNAM nursing students regarding caring of mothers’ undergone caesarean section at postnatal ward at Katutura state hospital. A qualitative design represents an attempt to understand people’s interpretation in this study, the students who have cared for mothers undergone a caesarean section at postnatal ward at Katutura state hospital [11] . Equally the study was contextual; a contextual design provides an understanding of users or human to find out their fundamental intents, desires, and drivers [12] . The target population for this study were all the second year UNAM nursing students allocated at postnatal ward at Katutura state Hospital during the data collection period.

The estimated total population of second year nursing degree students is (N = 80). Unstructured individual interviews among eleven students were used and the sample was determined by the saturation of data. A purposive sampling method was utilized for this study. The inclusion criteria included, second year UNAM nursing degree students who registered for midwifery two in the year 2017, who have worked at postnatal ward Katutura State Hospital and agreed to participate voluntary and has interest to provide input into research process. The exclusion criteria excluded, nursing students who were not second year at UNAM. Nursing students who did not care for a patient under gone a caesarean section at least two to three times and second year UNAM nursing students who were not registered for midwifery two. The pilot study was conducted among (3) three second year students at the University of Namibia. Those participants were excluded from the actual research. Detected problems were used to determine whether the recommended study is feasible, refine research instruments, and diagnose problems with the design of the study. Data was collected at Katutura state Hospital at the postnatal ward. Unstructured individual interview, tape recorders and field notes were used to collect the data. The data was collected by the researchers, after introduced themselves prior to the interviews and explain the purpose of the research to the participants. All participants were asked one same question, the interviewer started with a broad opening question “tell me about your experience regarding caring of mother undergone caesarean section?” The interviewer invited participants to give more information or explain themselves further by probe follow up’s.

The interviews were voice recorded with the permission of the participants to ensure precise transcripts. Consent obtained from the participants included the purpose and objectives of the research study, methods and duration. The demographic data that were discussed were gender, age and educational level. Respondents were (N = 11) in the study, 5 that is (45%) were males and 6 that is (55%) were females. Age for all respondents out of 11 participants, 5 that is (46%) were between the ages of 19 to 22, 4 that is (36%) were between the ages of 23 to 25 while 2 that is (18%) were between the ages of 26 to 30. 8 that is (73%) of the participants had primary and secondary education while 3 that is (27%) of the participants had primary, secondary and tertiary education.

The researchers adopted strategies suggested by Lincoln and Guba as cited by Tappen [13] to establish trustworthiness of the data. These strategies describe trustworthiness as the degree of confidence that the qualitative researcher have in their data by using the criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability. In this study, credibility was maintained through prolonged engagement, persistent observation, triangulation, referential adequacy, peer group debriefing, and member checking Staying in the field until data has been saturated, this enabled the researcher to gain trust from the participants by establishing rapport with them [15] . Close rapport with participants provided access to richer information this was done to ensure the criteria of prolonged engagement. The researcher solicited participants’ views on the credibility of the findings and interpretations by replaying the tape to ensure the criteria of member checking. Persistent observation was ensured by consistently pursuing interpretations in various ways and look for multiple influences. Referral adequacy as criteria of credibility was ensured by determining that all materials needed to document findings are available.

The researcher ensured transferability by dense description and purposive sampling [16] . The researcher ensured transferability by providing sufficient (thick) descriptive data in the research report for consumers to evaluate the applicability of the data to other contexts, to ensure the criteria of dense description. A purposive sampling method was employed in order to deliberately select the participants who will be able to give rich information about their experiences of caring for mothers’ undergone caesarean section at postnatal ward at Katutura state hospital, this method was employed to ensure the criteria of purposive sampling.

Dependability refers to the stability (reliability) of data over time and the conditions [17] . Dependability was ensured through audit, triangulation and peer examination [18] . The criterion of audit was ensured by Research methodology and questions contained in the interview guide were checked by the study supervisors for relevance before the actual data collection [19] . The researcher was guided by the study supervisors to ensure compliance with the institution’s protocols. The study’s methodology was described in detail and a literature review was conducted during the study.

Individual interviews, field notes and a voice recorder were used as methods of data collection. The researcher compared the notes with the recordings. Qualitative, explorative and descriptive designs were used in compliance with the criteria of triangulation. Research experts were involved to give opinions on the study to ensure the criteria of peer examination. Sample and sampling procedures, data collection and analysis were described in the study. And complete comprehensive transcriptions of the interviews were created, to ensure the criteria of dense description. To ensure coding, the researcher analysed the data after which themes and sub-themes for the study were identified. The application of conformability was ensured with the criteria of conformability audit, a literature was conducted for this study.

The data about students experience was recorded with a tape recorder as mentioned in data collection procedure, these data was: translated, transcribed, coded, that merged to the formation of five (5) themes and eight (8) subthemes. Data was analysed using TESCH’S method of data analysis.

The researcher collected data during the month of September 2017, Permission to conduct research was granted from relevant authorities such as Ministry of Health and Social Services and the University of Namibia. Informed consent was written and explained to the respondents. Ethical principles were maintained that is principle of respect, participants were allowed to voluntary participate in the research study without any risk of penalty or prejudicial treatment [20] . Principle of anonymity was ensured, participants were not asked their name, and they were allocated numbers in order to identify them. To ensure the principle of beneficence, participants had the right to protection and no harm at all [21] . The principle of confidentiality and justice was ensured by right to fair selection and treatment in the research study. Privacy of the participants was ensured by making sure that no one else has access to collected data except for the researcher.

The results were discussed according to the (5) five themes and (8) subthemes (Table 1).