Providers’ Perceptions of Respectful Maternity Care and Enabling Conditions in a Regional Hospital: A Qualitative Study

Globally, women continue to die from pregnancy-related conditions that could be prevented through ensuring timely access to emergency obstetric care and facility-based deliveries supervised by skilled birth attendants. However, many women are reluctant to deliver in maternity healthcare facilities due to the widespread disrespect and abuse that patients have reportedly received. Respectful maternity care has been identified amongst the possible solutions. This study explored perceptions of respectful maternity care and the enabling conditions of a multidisciplinary group of maternity healthcare providers working at a busy, specialised public mother and child regional hospital in Gauteng, South Africa. An explorative, descriptive, and contextual study design with a phenomenological perspective was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of the 30 purposefully selected study participants. The interviews were digitally recorded, professionally transcribed, and analysed using Tesch's Constant Comparison method. Two main categories, namely (1) healthcare providers' perceptions of respectful maternity care and (2) enabling conditions for its practice emerged, encompassing seven themes: women-centred care, provision of high-quality care, preservation and promotion of women's rights, creating an enabling environment for the practice of RMC, in-service training, accountability of healthcare providers for their actions, and community involvement. The perceptions of the study participants regarding respectful maternity care align with global standards; however, successful implementation requires the establishment of enabling conditions.