Experiences regarding Respectful Maternity Care amongst women living in two Block PHC areas of Assam

Background: High-quality maternity care goes hand-in-hand with respectful treatment, protects women’s basic human rights during childbirth. Respectful care during childbirth embraces principles of ethics and honours women’s dignity, empowers to make informed choices during childbirth. Aim & Objective: To assess the experiences regarding Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) amongst women living in two Block PHC areas of Assam.Methods and Material: This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in two block PHC areas of two districts of Assam from December 2023 to March 2024. Using multi-stage sampling technique, 300 participants were included and interviewed house-to-house using pre-designed proforma containing seven major domains of RMC Charter. Statistical analysis used: Data analysed in SPSS v25 and descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviations (SD) for continuous variables and proportions for categorical variables, were used. Results: While over three-fourths of participants received RMC, every participant reported experiencing minimum one form of disrespect during maternity care at facility. Non-confidential care and detention in health facility were the most and least common experienced form of mistreatment respectively (mean score 0.26 and 2 respectively). Teenage pregnancy (3%) seen in this study. Conclusion: Over three-fourths of women reported receiving RMC and non-confidential care was most commonly reported form of mistreatment.