ArticleBMJ open2021
Lay and healthcare providers' experiences to inform future of respectful maternal and newborn care in Tanzania and Malawi: an Appreciative Inquiry.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health system responsiveness for maternal healthcare services in East Africa: a mixed-methods systematic review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Pooled it
- Overcoming barriers and harnessing facilitators: Respectful maternity care in least-developed countries - a systematic review.Women's health (London, England)Pooled it
- An insight into the experience of healthcare providers and users of women-friendly health services in Jordan-a mixed method study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Article
- Family systems care approaches and methodologies for maternal, newborn and child health in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review.Global health action · 2025Article
- Factors associated with respectful maternity care reported by patients in selected health facilities in Musanze District, Rwanda: a facility-based cross-sectional study.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Article
- Assessing language barriers in health facilities in Malawi.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Healthcare providers' perspectives on sustaining respectful maternity care appreciated by mothers in five hospitals of Rwanda.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- "If I am alive, I am happy": Defining quality of care from the perspectives of key maternal and newborn health stakeholders in Papua New Guinea.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Perspectives of stakeholders regarding the value of maternal and newborn health interventions and practices supported by UNICEF and other partners in the West Nile region of Uganda: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Understanding variation in person-centered maternity care: Results from a household survey of postpartum women in 6 regions of Ethiopia.AJOG global reports · 2023Article
- Women's preferences for antenatal care in Tanzania: a discrete choice experiment.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesDisrespectful care, which remains prevalent in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), acts as a barrier to women accessing skilled birth attendance, compromising care when services are available. Building on what was positive in facilities, we aimed to explore lay and healthcare providers' experience of respectful care to inform future interventions.
settingFive maternity facilities in Mwanza Tanzania and Lilongwe Malawi.
participants94 participants in Malawi (N=46) and Tanzania (N=48) including 24 women birthing live baby within the previous 12 months; 22 family members and 48 healthcare providers who regularly provided maternity care in the included facilities
designThe study was guided by Appreciative Inquiry (AI). Semistructured, one-to-one interviews were conducted between January and December 2019. Interviews were audio-recorded, translated where necessary, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using the framework approach.
resultsFour main themes describing participants positive experience and their vision of respectful care were identified: (1) empathic healthcare provider-woman interactions including friendly welcome and courteous language, well-timed appropriate care and information sharing, (2) an enabling environment, characterised by improvement of physical environment, the use of screens, curtains and wall partitions for privacy, availability of equipment and provision of incentives to staff, (3) supportive leadership demonstrated by the commitment of the government and facility leaders to provision of respectful care, ensuring availability of guidelines and policies, supportive supervision, reflective discussion and paying staff salaries timely, (4) providers' attitudes and behaviours characterised by professional values through readiness, compassionate communication and commitment.
conclusionThe positive experiences of service users, families and healthcare providers provided insight into key drivers of respectful care in facilities in Tanzania and Malawi. Interventions targeting improved environment and privacy, healthcare provider communication and developing positive leadership structures in facilities could provide the basis for sustained improvement in respectful and dignified maternal and newborn care in LMICs.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.