When I first heard the term “Respectful Maternity Care”, the first thing that popped up in my mind was the quote in one of our lecture videos and was stated by Dr. Ian Aksew, Director of Reproductive Health and Research of WHO, which was “Pregnancy should be a positive experience for all women and they should receive care that respects their dignity.” Thus, as future health care providers, therapeutic communication would be a very essential skill to master to ensure that all of our future clients, not only the pregnant ones, will feel respected during one of their health consultations. Having said this, respectful maternity care has been described as “a universal human right that encompasses the principles of ethics and respect for women’s feelings, dignity, choices, and preferences.” Although it's a universal right, it’s saddening to hear that many women experience a lack of respectful and abusive care during childbirth across the globe (Pathak & Ghimire, 2020).
As such, Pathak & Ghimire (2020) conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study to determine women’s perception of respectful maternity care during facility-based childbirth involving 150 mothers admitted to the maternity ward of Nepal Medical College and Teaching Hospital which utilized a purposive sampling technique.
The researchers collected the data through an interview technique that utilizes a validated tool containing 15 items each measured on a scale of 5. Upon analyzing the data collected using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16, the researchers found out that the majority of the women (84.7%) reported that they have experienced overall RMC services. Although this may be the case, they also revealed that some of the respondents have experienced being shouted upon (30%), being slapped (18.7%), delayed service provision (22.7%), and not talking positively about pain and relief during childbirth (28%), which suggest that their experiences of disrespectful care were shaped in several forms. Furthermore, the researchers also found out that the length of stay, parity, and time of delivery were correlated factors that influenced friendly care, abuse-free care, and timely care, respectively.
With this, despite the thought that the majority of the women received overall RMC services from healthcare professionals, we also have to look out for the remaining 15% of the women from this study who have been disrespected and have had scarred experiences during childbirth. Perhaps, with these experiences, it is very arguable that pregnancy and childbirth would not be as much exciting of an experience to look forward to once these disrespected women have conceived again.
Reference:
Pathak, P., & Ghimire, B. (2020). Perception of Women regarding Respectful Maternity Care during Facility-Based Childbirth. Obstetrics and Gynecology International. Retrieved from: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ogi/2020/5142398/