Abuse, disrespect and mistreatment during childbirth care: contribution of the Ribeirao Preto cohorts, Brazil

This study aimed to estimate the per-ception and frequency of abuse, disrespect and mistreatment (ADM) situations during childbir-th care of 745 women from the Ribeirao Preto birt cohorts. Confidential questionnaires containing one question regarding perceived abuse during childbirth care and other questions addressing exposure to ADM situations were applied. The chi-squared test was used to compare the situa-tions presented between women who did and did not report mistreatment using the Stata 14.0 sof-tware. Among the 745 women evaluated, 66.2% were exposed to some situation of ADM and 8.3% reported having perceived ADM. The most fre-quent situations were that the woman could not eat or drink (30.5%), the woman had her belly squeezed to help the child be born (27.5%), and the woman could not stay with a companion of her choice (25.5%). Women who reported to have suffered maltreatment more frequently res-ponded positively to all situations of ADM when compared to the other participants, except for the following statements: I was not allowed to eat or drink anything (p = 0.975) and I was forced to have a cesarean delivery against my will (p = 0.073). Although most women of the Ribeirao Preto cohorts reported exposure to ADM situa-tions during childbirth care, a minority perceived disrespect or mistreatment.

Automated summary

This study aimed to estimate the perception and frequency of abuse, disrespect, and mistreatment during childbirth care. The results showed that while most women were exposed to some ADM situations, only a minority perceived disrespect or mistreatment.