An Innovative Intervention to Improve Respectful Maternity Care in Three Districts in Ethiopia
Abstract Background: Mistreatment of women during facility-based childbirth is a major violation of human rights and often deters women from accessing skilled delivery in health facilities. In Ethiopia, mistreatment has been documented to occur in up to 49.4% of mothers delivering in health facilities. This study describes the development, implementation and results of a novel intervention to improve respectful maternity care in Ethiopia. Methods: As part of a national initiative to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in Ethiopia, we developed a novel respectful maternity care training module with three core components: testimonial videos, a skills-building session on communication, and onsite coaching. The respectful maternity care training was conducted in February 2017 in three districts within three regions of Ethiopia. Facility level solutions applied to enhance the experience of care for mothers as a result of the training module were documented. Safe Childbirth Checklist data measuring privacy maintained and birth companion offered during labor and delivery were collected over 27 months from 17 health centers and three hospitals in the three districts. Interrupted time series and a regression analysis were conducted to assess the significance of improvement. Results: Data analysis showed significant improvement in the percentage of births with two elements of respectful maternal care—privacy maintained and birth companionship offered—following the respectful maternity care training, which was sustained beyond the project intervention (regression coefficients ranging from 18% to 77% for births with privacy and with birth companion offered). About 23 local solutions were devised and implemented in the health facilities that improved the experience of care for mothers. Conclusion: This study suggests that integrating the respectful maternity care training into a district-wide quality improvement collaborative is effective in improving respectful maternity care. Use of a multi-pronged approach is especially helpful in enhancing respectful maternity care comprehensively. Testimonial videos helped providers to see their services from their clients’ perspective, while quality improvement training and coaching helped them reflect on potential root causes for this type of treatment and develop effective solutions.