Status of respectful maternity care for women underwent normal vaginal delivery in selected hospitals in Rishikesh: A mixed-method study

Many women face disrespectful and abusive treatment during childbirth in facilities worldwide. Such treatment violates women's rights to respectful care and jeopardizes their rights to life, health, bodily integrity, and equality. This study aims at identifying the status of respectful maternity care (RMC) in selected hospitals in Rishikesh.

A mixed-method approach was adopted to explore RMC during normal vaginal delivery in a selected hospital in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. In the quantitative part, 145 women were purposively selected, and data were collected by a pre-structured, validated RMC checklist, developed based on WHO RMC standards. Qualitative data were collected from 18 women, and a face-to-face semi-structured interview was conducted.

Forty-two elements of RMC categorized under eight domains show the type of mistreatment and its prevalence faced by women at a health care facility. Data showed that domain-7 (availability of competent and motivated human resources) had higher scoring (95%), and on the other hand, domain-4 (informed consent and effective communication) got lowest-scoring (68.45%). The overall mean percentage score of RMC was 85.68%. There was no statistically significant association between the total score of RMC and the selected socio-demographic variables.

The overall RMC score was high, and there was no significant association with mothers' socio-demographic variables. The majority of mothers expressed that competent and motivated professionals were available during their delivery, but their communication skills were found to be lacking.