Can respectful maternity care save and improve lives?

Competencies for respectful maternity care: Identifying those most important to midwives worldwide

“…Rather, RMC puts the woman at the center of care and focuses on her experience of care. Furthermore, Morton and Simkin6 suggest RMC can reduce distress and help prevent PTSD. They also suggest interventions can be made during the course of maternity care to relieve some of the traumatizing factors and reduce the severity of symptoms in order to support a quicker and smoother recovery.…”

“…Disrespectful maternity care and a "culture of mistreatment" have been linked to poor physical and psychological outcomes for women and babies. 6 Research from Kenya, Ghana, and India 7 found that women did not receive adequate personcentered (ie, responsive and respectful) maternity care. Five percent of women in these surveys reported physical abuse, and 11%-18% reported verbal abuse.…”

“…12 A poor experience of birth, of pregnancy, or of the process of care can have serious and lasting repercussions for women and their families, including postpartum depression, breakdown in relationships, and impact on the child, and even result in post-traumatic stress disorder. 1,6 Experiences of mistreatment or poor standards of care also contribute to an erosion of women's and the community's trust in maternity care facilities, which can be a serious deterrent to women accessing maternity services and an over-reliance on traditional practitioners. 1,7,8 The construct of RMC has been measured in countries at all economic levels of development across the globe.…”

Childbirth Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) in the Sri Lankan setting: translation, cultural adaptation and validation into the Sinhala language

“…These type of tools can help to improve maternal health services in order to tailor women's expectations in labour and childbirth process. Disrespectful maternity care is prevalent in many settings throughout the globe, particularly in under-resource settings [16,17]. Latest WHO intrapartum care recommendations targeting a positive childbirth experience elaborate this furthermore [14].…”

Becoming a mother and mattering in early 21st century Australia: An exploration of women's perinatal transitions and equity in wellbeing

“…Largely as a result of the way that I was treated during this labour and birth, I experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress. My experience was consistent with research finding that mistreatment by care providers as well as a lack of involvement in decision-making are associated with women experiencing birth trauma (Morton & Simkin, 2019;Reed, Sharman, & Inglis, 2017;G. Thomson & Downe, 2008).…”