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ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) is a Universal human right that is due for every women of reproductive age in every health system. It is an approach centered on women and based on ethics and respect for human rights and helps promotes practices that recognizes women’s preferences, decisions and needs. It involves quality care given by health workers in facility based settings. Skilled assistant during pregnancy and delivery by professional health workers is one key intervention in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. But several studies have shown that many women experience disrespect and abuse during maternity services and delivery in health institutions which acts as a limitation to improving quality care offered and the overall quality of maternal health outcomes. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude towards, perception and experiences of Respectful Maternity Care among nursing mothers receiving maternal health services in UBTH. METHODOLOGY: An Analytical cross sectional study was conducted among 350 women selected using a multi-staged sampling technique. Data was collected using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire which was adapted from the Mothers on Respect (MOR) Index questionnaire guide for Respectful Maternity Care. Statistical analysis was done using the IBM SPSS version 25 software. Univariate and bivariate analyses were carried out for all variables. Multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression was done to determine the predictors of Respectful Maternity Care. The level of significance was set at <0.05. RESULTS: The mean age ± SD of respondents was 30.40 ± 4.56 years. One hundred and thirtyone (37.7%) respondents had an overall good knowledge of the concept of RMC. There was a statistically significant association between the monthly income and knowledge of RMC. More than three-fourth of respondents (80.3%) had a positive attitude towards RMC. There was a significant association between level of education and attitude towards RMC. Less than ninetenth of respondents (86.6%) had an overall good perception of RMC, with significant associations between monthly income and level of education. Less than one-third of respondents experienced any form of disrespect and abuse from health workers. Less than three-fourth of respondents (70.9%) experienced good practice of RMC from health workers, with significant associations with the age-group and attitude towards RMC. About three-fourth (74.9%) of respondents experienced satisfactory levels of RMC at the health facilities they received their last maternal services while about one-fourth of respondents, (25.1%) were not satisfied with the care they received. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of RMC was poor among respondents although attitude towards, perception and the experiences of RMC were good. Three-fourth of respondents were satisfied with the maternal services they received so more efforts should be put in place to sustain and furthermore improve on the quality of maternal services offered at health facilities. Keywords: nursing mothers, health facilities, RMC, experiences.
