Midwives' Perspectives of Respectful Maternity Care during Childbirth: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: The adoption of respectful maternity care during labour and birth is complex process which needs both scientific and interpersonal skills of providers. In this regard, identifying the potential barriers and applying effective strategies for implementing respectful maternity care are essential. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of Iranian midwives regarding respectful maternity care during labour and childbirth.Methods: This was a qualitative study which was conducted from September-December 2018 in two non-teaching public hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Twenty four semi-structured interviews were conducted with midwives, who had more than one year work experience in labor and childbirth units, through a purposive sampling method. The data was analyzed using conventional content analysis approach and managed by MAX QDA 10 software.Results: Three themes were extracted including showing empathy, women-centered care and protecting rights. Showing empathy reflects that establishing a friendly relationship and being with women. Women-centered care indicated keeping women safe and participating in decision making.Protecting rights reflected a need for safeguarding dignity as well as giving equal care and preparing appropriate environment.Conclusions: Iranian midwives considered respectful maternity care a broader concept rather than preventing mistreatment. Providing supportive care through friendly interaction with women was the first step for providing respectful maternity care. Promoting respectful care also should be through performing safe care by implementing evidence-based care and women's involvement in their care as well as appropriate environment for women, families and caregivers.The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Ethics approval and consent to participate

Traumatic Childbirth Experiences of New Parents: A Meta-Synthesis

“…This highlights that instead of being dismissive, health care providers can step in to moderate fear by listening to a couple’s requests and verbal expressions of fear by acknowledging their fear and communicating with them constantly to build trust. The latest study reported that women were less afraid when they had more confidence in their obstetricians and midwives (Moridi et al, 2020), further reinforcing the need of receiving compassionate and dignified care from health care providers. A recent study also discussed that keeping fathers informed of the events during childbirth and constantly keeping them involved in providing support for their partners helped them to cope with negative outcomes of childbirth better (Elmir & Schmied, 2016).…”

Development and psychometric properties of Midwives' Knowledge and Practice Scale on Respectful Maternity Care (MKP-RMC)

“…Reference lists of these papers were also examined. Literature review was followed by a qualitative study, the details of which are described elsewhere [ 15 ].…”

Development of a tool to assess students’ perceptions of respectful maternity care

“…Disrespectful care is associated with low satisfaction with care (Kujawski et al, 2015), psychological distance between women and health care providers (Ishola et al, 2017), and low future uptake of facility-based health care by women (Ishola et al, 2017;Kujawski et al, 2015;Ndwiga et al, 2014) which may contribute to increased maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. Several qualitative studies have explored midwives' and students' perspectives of disrespectful and abusive care (Burrowes et al, 2017) and midwives' perspectives of RMC (Moridi et al, 2020b;Ndwiga et al, 2017). Some authors have used study-specific questionnaires to explore midwives' perceptions of disrespectful care (Afulani et al, 2020) and nursing students' perceptions of obstetric violence (Mena-Tudela et al, 2020).…”