Abstract
Background: Obstetric violence is a worldwide public health problem, which seems greater in Spain. As no studies were found that identify the most representative healthcare professionals, times, and areas involved in obstetric violence, the objective of this work was to study at what time of maternity, with which professionals, and in what areas women identified obstetric violence. Methods: This descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional study was performed from January 2018 to June 2019. The main variables were the area (hospital, primary care, both), the time (pregnancy, birth, puerperium), and the professionals attending to women. Results: Our sample comprised 17,541 participants. The area identified with the most obstetric violence for the different studied variables was hospitals. Women identified more obstetric violence at time of birth. Findings such as lack of information and informed consent (74.2%), and criticism of infantile behavior and treatment (87.6%), stood out. The main identified healthcare professionals were midwives and gynecologists, and “other” professionals repeatedly appeared. Conclusions: Having identified the professionals, times, and areas of most obstetric violence in Spain, it seems necessary to reflect on not only the Spanish National Health System’s structure and management but also on healthcare professionals’ training.
Highlights
17,742 questionnaires were obtained, of which 201 were eliminated (1.13%): 88 (0.49%) because they were completed by women who had given birth abroad or because they were not properly filled in; 17 (0.09%) because they belonged to the Spanish Autonomous Communities (SAC) Ceuta and Melilla; 96 (0.54%) because they did not include an answer about the province variable
Informed Consent Requested and Information Received in Relation to Healthcare Professionals, Of the complete sample, 45.9% (n = 8047) answered that they were neither informed about the procedures they were about to undergo nor expressly requested to provide informed consent
The bivariate analysis with cluster groups continued to indicate a certain degree of inequality in the different and its results with cluster groups continued to indicate a certain degree of inequality in regions of Spain for obstetric violence (OV), which falls in line with previous studies [15,29]
Summary
One definition refers to “any medical practice or attitude expressed by language or actions which, during the gyneco-obstetric follow-up of pregnant women, women giving birth or breastfeeding women, ignores women’s and infants’ rights, desires, decisions, needs, emotions and/or dignity” [1]. This concept contains elements that are closely related to the definition of the positive birth experience that the World Health Organization (WHO) offers. It includes friendly and technically competent clinical personnel, and it is still a positive birth experience even when medical interventions are desired or necessary [2]
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