Abstract
Background and Objectives
Concern about mistreatment and abuse during childbirth care is growing, and evidence suggests that many women worldwide experience mistreatment during childbirth. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of abused women during labor, types of abuse, rate of satisfaction with birth care among abused women, and associated sociodemographic and obstetric factors with mistreatment and abuse in the delivery room.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted with data from 1196 women who experienced a vaginal delivery at least once within the past year in a public health setting in Erbil city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The author developed a questionnaire after a comprehensive review of the literature. Data were collected through direct interviews with the sample. Frequency, percentage, and chi-square tests were used for data analysis.
Results
About half of the study sample (49.9%) mentioned that they experienced mistreatment and/or abuse during labor and delivery. The most experienced type of mistreatment and abuse were as follows: lack of privacy (84.6%), patient-blaming (58.5), purposeful neglect (51.6%), abandonment of care, and detention in facilities (43.9%), Non-consented care (42.9%). The rate of physical and verbal abuse was 24.3% and 29.8%, respectively. There was a highly significant association between parity and general satisfaction with birth care with experiencing abuse (P = 0.006, P ≤ 0.001).
Conclusions
Mistreatment and abuse of women during childbirth are present among Kurdish women, leading to generally non-satisfaction with birth care, and exploring the reasons behind why health care providers mistreatment and abuse women during childbirth is critical.
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Acknowledgements
Many thanks for Ms Parez Ali Omer, Ms Shayma Salih Mahmood and Ms Naska Abdullah Elias (three midwifery students) who help the researcher in collecting data. Also many thanks for Kathryn Mishkin (DrPH, MPH, MA, from USA) who edited this paper as a native English speaker.
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Ahmed, H.M. Rate and Types of Childbirth Mistreatment and Abuse and Its Association with Satisfaction with Birth Care: A Cross-Sectional Study of 1196 Kurdish Women. Matern Child Health J 26, 1322–1327 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03318-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03318-w