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Background: Respectful maternity care (RMC) is “a universal human right for every childbearing woman”. Mistreatment during childbirth is a violation of women’s fundamental rights and affects accessibility to women’s health services. In Rwanda, little is known about health care professionals’ perceptions and attitudes towards RMC during childbirth. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of midwives towards the provision of respectful maternity care during childbirth.Methods: This qualitative study used individual in-depth interviews in Kinyarwanda language. A purposive sampling method was used to reach out to 28 midwives from three district hospitals in Kigali city. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated into English and thematic content analysis was performed using Atlas ti, version 7. The study was ethically approved by the University of Rwanda College of Medicine and Health Sciences Institutional Review Board, before data collection.Results: Most of participants revealed that they have knowledge on RMC and perceive that they provide maternal health care based on women’s rights. Positive attitudes towards providing RMC were reported by midwives working in maternity. However, a considerable number of participants reported the existence of abusive practices among midwives. Most of the midwives reported facing many challenges which affect their ability to provide respectful maternal care.Conclusion: In general, midwives understand the seven rights of mothers and had a positive attitude towards providing RMC. However, some abusive practices still exist among midwives while providing RMC with considerable reported challenges, including overload and lack of labour monitoring materials. The adjustment of the ratio of midwives to clients and availability of essential materials in labour monitoring is suggested. |
