Iranian mother’s perspectives about aspects and determinants of disrespect and abuse during labor and delivery: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Respectful maternity care (RMC) is a crucial strategy in improving postpartum experiences of mothers. This study aimed to explain women’s perception of determining aspects and determinants of disrespect and abuse (D&A) during childbirth. This study was carried out from October 2019 to February 2020 in Tabriz-Iran. A total of 12 postpartum women were enrolled in this qualitative study by purposive sampling. The data were collected through in-depth semi structured interviews and simultaneously analyzed with a conventional content analysis approach. Thirty eight sub-themes and 11 main themes extracted from data analysis. The main themes included: “physical abuse,” “psychological violence,” “discrimination,” “violation of privacy,” “unmet needs and preferences,” “nonparticipation in decision-making,” “abandonment of women,” “Lack of sympathy,” “shortage of human and non-human resources,” “unpleasant psychological atmosphere of the ward” and “facilitators of D&A.” The results of our study indicated the importance of sympathy with mothers and professional ethics. Moreover, healthcare providers, administrators, and policy-makers should design patient-centered interventions in order to secure the material, psychological, and legal needs of women to receive respectful maternity care.

KEYWORDS:

• Content analysis
• determinant
• disrespect and abuse
• Iran
• qualitative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The study was financially supported by Vice-chancellor for Research of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Funding source has not any role in the design of the study and collection, analysis and interpretation of data.