NDLI: Women’s experiences of disrespect and abuse in Swiss facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative analysis of an open-ended question in the IMAgiNE EURO study

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Abderhalden-Zellweger, Alessia de Labrusse, Claire Gemperle, Michael Grylka-Baeschlin, Susanne Pfund, Anouck Mueller, Antonia N. Mariani, Ilaria Pessa Valente, Emanuelle Lazzerini, Marzia
Abstract	Background The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the provision of maternal care. The IMAgiNE EURO study investigates the Quality of Maternal and Newborn Care during the pandemic in over 20 countries, including Switzerland. Aim This study aims to understand women’s experiences of disrespect and abuse in Swiss health facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Data were collected via an anonymous online survey on REDCap®. Women who gave birth between March 2020 and March 2022 and answered an open-ended question in the IMAgiNE EURO questionnaire were included in the study. A qualitative thematic analysis of the women’s comments was conducted using the International Confederation of Midwives’ RESPECT toolkit as a framework for analysis. Findings The data source for this study consisted of 199 comments provided by women in response to the open-ended question in the IMAgiNE EURO questionnaire. Analysis of these comments revealed clear patterns of disrespect and abuse in health facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. These patterns include non-consensual care, with disregard for women’s choices and birth preferences; undignified care, characterised by disrespectful attitudes and a lack of empathy from healthcare professionals; and feelings of abandonment and neglect, including denial of companionship during childbirth and separation from newborns. Insufficient organisational and human resources in health facilities were identified as contributing factors to disrespectful care. Empathic relationships with healthcare professionals were reported to be the cornerstone of positive experiences. Discussion Swiss healthcare facilities showed shortcomings related to disrespect and abuse in maternal care. The pandemic context may have brought new challenges that compromised certain aspects of respectful care. The COVID-19 crisis also acted as a magnifying glass, potentially revealing and exacerbating pre-existing gaps and structural weaknesses within the healthcare system, including understaffing. Conclusions These findings should guide advocacy efforts, urging policy makers and health facilities to allocate adequate resources to ensure respectful and high-quality maternal care during pandemics and beyond.
Related Links	https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12884-024-06598-6.pdf
Ending Page	14
Page Count	14
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	14712393
DOI	10.1186/s12884-024-06598-6
Journal	BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	24
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2024-05-31
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Reproductive Medicine Maternal and Child Health Gynecology Disrespect and abuse in maternity care COVID-19 pandemic Maternal health services Quality of care Perinatal care Switzerland
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Obstetrics and Gynecology
Journal Impact Factor	2.8/2023
5-Year Journal Impact Factor	3.4/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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