Gender-related indicators for the evaluation of quality of care in reproductive health services

Abstract

This paper is based on a decade of participative research with health institutions and women users of health services, and shared reflections with feminists working in women's health projects. It describes a study between 1993 and 1995 in rural and urban sectors of the Metropolitan Region of Chile, including the capital Santiago, 1 of the care women were receiving in public sector reproductive health services for contraception, childbirth and cervical cancer. The study aimed to produce a range of indicators for evaluating quality of care in those services from a gender perspective. The data generated four main variables in quality of care — the extent of improvement in a woman's health and well-being, the extent to which her expectations were met, the extent of respect shown to the woman as an individual and her rights, and the extent to which her autonomy was strengthened — as a result of the care provided. Indicators were developed arising from these variables and can be developed for all aspects of service delivery. They can be used by the women's health movement, users of services and health services themselves to train health professionals, and to recommend, lobby for and measure improvements in quality of care.