Abstract
BackgroundIntrapartum respectful maternity care is defined as a fundamental human right that can affect the mother’s experiences. This study aimed to determine the status of respectful maternity care and its relationship with childbirth experience among Iranian women.MethodsThis prospective cohort study recruited 334 postpartum women in postpartum wards of two public and four private hospitals in Tabriz, Iran. Quota sampling was used based on the number of births in each hospital. Data were collected through interviews with the use of the following tools: sociodemographic and obstetrics characteristics questionnaire, respectful maternity care scale (6 to 18 h postpartum), and childbirth experience questionnaire (30 to 45 days postpartum). The General Linear Model was used to determine the relationship between respectful maternity care and childbirth experience.ResultsThe mean respectful maternity care score was 62.58 with a range of 15 to 75, and the total childbirth experience score was 3.29 with a range of 1 to 4. After adjusting for sociodemographic and obstetrics characteristics, a statistically significant direct correlation was found between respectful maternity care and a positive childbirth experience (P < 0.001).ConclusionsThe findings reveals a direct relationship between respectful maternity care and positive childbirth experience. Therefore, it is recommended that mangers and policy makers in childbirth facilities reinforce facilitating a respectful maternity care to improve women’s child birth experience and prevent potential adverse effects of negative childbirth experiences.
Highlights
Intrapartum respectful maternity care is defined as a fundamental human right that can affect the mother’s experiences
Traumatic childbirth experience varies from country to country
Half (43.7%) of the mothers stayed less than 5 h in the hospital while their mothers or fathers were in the waiting room helping them as their support people (48.8%). (Table 1)
Summary
Intrapartum respectful maternity care is defined as a fundamental human right that can affect the mother’s experiences. This study aimed to determine the status of respectful maternity care and its relationship with childbirth experience among Iranian women. Different intrapartum factors can affect the experience of traumatic childbirth. Fear of childbirth, failure to take analgesics [9], lack of support [10], and transferring the newborn to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) [11] can be among risk factors for traumatic childbirth. In a cross sectional study among 800 Iranian women, absence of pain relief during labour and the fear of childbirth were the main intrapartum predicting factors for a traumatic birth experience [9]
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