Kontakt 2022, 24(4/2022):302-309 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2022.035

Determinants of respectful care in midwiferyNursing - Review article

Radka Wilhelmová¹, Lenka Veselá^{1, *}, Iva Korábová¹, Simona Slezáková², Andrea Pokorná^{1, 2}

¹ Masaryk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

² Masaryk University, Faculty of Medicine, Czech National Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare and Knowledge Translation (Cochrane Czech Republic, Czech EBHC: JBI Centre of Excellence, Masaryk University GRADE Centre), Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, Brno, Czech Republic

Women's positive experience of maternity care is related to the quality of care and is as important as objectively measurable perinatal outcomes. Satisfaction is a relatively broad concept with relatively difficult operationalisation. The tools for measuring it most often include variables related to structure, process, and outcomes. Improving current practice requires the accurate identification of existing care deficits and the main determinants of women's satisfaction with maternity care.

Aim: To contextually highlight significant determinants of women's satisfaction that have been identified through a literary review.

Methods: A clinical question was formulated through the PICo framework to determine the search and define inclusion criteria for articles. The question focused on determinants related to women's satisfaction with the care provided during motherhood. The population under consideration is women living in a similar cultural context, with a normal course of pregnancy, and lived experience. These concepts were transformed into subject headings used in the search and text presentation strategies.

Results: The evaluation of the quality of care provided to women in maternity is inextricably linked to the specific experience of the woman. The experience is determined by specific factors related to the different phases of motherhood, as well as factors specific to different socio-demographic groups of women and groups of women with increased care demands. However, there are also determinants generally applicable to all women without distinction. These include continuous respectful care, communication with the partner, meeting the woman's personal expectations, a high level of professionalism, support from health professionals, the woman's involvement in decision-making, and respect for her choice.

Conclusions: The paper provides an overview of the existing important determinants of women's satisfaction with the care, which have been identified across different countries - particularly in the European context and beyond. A woman's motherhood experience can significantly influence the lives of both mother and child. It is desirable that women's experiences are examined and become a standard criterion for assessing the quality of care provided to women during maternity.

Keywords: Care; Determinants; Experience; Literary Review; Motherhood; Satisfaction

Grants and funding:

This work was supported by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic under grant no. NU21-09-00564 “The quality of provided prenatal and perinatal care from the Czech woman perspective”. All rights reserved.

Conflicts of interest:

The authors declare that the research in the literary review has no conflict of interests and that all ethical aspects have been observed.

Received: May 4, 2022; Revised: October 20, 2022; Accepted: November 4, 2022; Prepublished online: November 22, 2022; Published: December 19, 2022  Show citation