OBJECTIVE To develop and validate a new instrument that assesses women's autonomy and role in decision making during maternity care. DESIGN Through a community-based participatory research process, service users designed, content validated, and administered a cross-sectional quantitative survey, including 31 items on the experience of decision-making. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Pregnancy expe...

background: to evaluate the satisfaction of mothers with the quality of care provided by maternity institutions in east kazakhstan on the basis of the “quality of hospital care for mothers and newborn babies, assessment tool” (who, 2009). methods: this cross-sectional study took place in 2013 and covered five maternity hospitals in east kazakhstan (one referral, two urban and two rural). to obt...

BACKGROUND The paper hand-held record (PHR) has been widely used as a tool to facilitate communication between health care providers and a pregnant woman. Since its inception in the 1950s, it has been described as a successful initiative, evolving to meet the needs of communities and their providers. Increasingly, the electronic health record (EHR) has dominated the healthcare arena and the mat...

Background Exploring patient satisfaction contributes to provide quality maternity care, but there is paucity of epidemiologic data in Eritrea. Objectives To determine the predictors of women's satisfaction with intrapartum care in Asmara public maternity hospitals in Eritrea. Methods A cross-sectional study among 771 mothers who gave birth in three public Hospitals. Chi-square tests were d...

BACKGROUND Many low and middle income countries have initiated maternity fee exemption and removal policies to promote use of skilled maternity care. After two and a half decades of these policies, uptake of skilled birth care remains low and inequalities continue to exist in many low and middle income countries. This study uses 2 decades of birth histories data to examine four maternity fee pa...

The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) is a coalition of individuals and national organizations with concern for the care and wellbeing of mothers, babies, and families. Our mission is to promote a wellness model of maternity care that will improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs. This evidence-based mother-, baby-, and family-friendly model focuses on prevention an...

BACKGROUND Freedom from discrimination is one of the key principles in a human rights-based approach to maternal and newborn health. OBJECTIVE To review the published evidence on discrimination against Romani women in maternity care in Europe, and on interventions to address this. SEARCH STRATEGY A systematic search of eight electronic databases was undertaken in 2015 using the terms "Roma"...

BACKGROUND Domestic abuse is a significant public health issue. It occurs more frequently among disabled women than those without a disability and evidence suggests that a great deal of domestic abuse begins or worsens during pregnancy. All women and their infants are entitled to equal access to high quality maternity care. However, research has shown that disabled women who experience domestic...