Mistreatment During Childbirth And Associated Factors Among Women Attending Labor Ward In Ambo Town Government Institutions, Oromia, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Background: Even though a lot has been done in Ethiopia to ensure access to health services, lack of quality services continues to be a health care challenge which could be in part attributed this practice. To date, there were no comprehensive studies that could provide insight in to the nature and types of maternal mistreatments and their influencing factors in government health facilities in Ambo Town that may be jeopardizing the intervention strategies. Objective: To determine the magnitude of maternal mistreatment during childbirth and associated factors in Ambo Town government health facilities. Method: facility based cross-sectional study design was employed among 415 women who delivered in government health facilities in Ambo Town, Ethiopia from January 01/ 2025 to March 30/2025. The data was collected at the discharge triage immediately before the mothers left the facilities after delivery. Systematic random sampling was used to select the study participants. Data were collected using a semi structured interview administered questionnaire. Magnitude of maternal mistreatment during childbirth was measured by using seven categories of disrespect and abuse with their respective verification criteria. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 26.0. Binary and multiple logistic regression models were applied to determine the presence of statistically significant associations between the dependent and independent variables at p-value < 0.05 and AOR values with 95% confidence interval. Results: Out of 421 sampled mothers, 415 participated in this study with response rate of 98.6%. The overall magnitude of disrespect and abuse was 24.6% (95% CI: 20.46-28.74%). The most common forms of mistreatment experienced by the mothers were: unconsented care (99.0%), non-confidential care (87%), abandonment or neglected care (83%), physical abuse (66%) and non-dignified care (49.6%). Mother’s age (AOR=0.75; 95% CI: 0.60-0.93), educational status (AOR=1.24; 95% CI: 1.02-1.51), history of antenatal care follow up (AOR=1.92; 95% CI: 1.05-3.52), number of ANC follow up (AOR=0.52; 95% CI:0.39-0.69 ) and presence or absence of complications (AOR=1.84, 95% CI: 1.44 2.36) were significantly associated with mistreatment during facility-based childbirth. Conclusion: Although, the overall magnitude of maternal mistreatment during child birth in government health facilities of Ambo Town is relatively low when compared to other similar studies, some care experiences reported by participants indicate unacceptably high level of mistreatments which need immediate attention. Adequate supply of birth companions to healthcare facilities and appropriate utilization during childbirth should be considered to reduce associated unacceptably high level of breach of privacy. There is also a need to train health care practitioners on how to communicate and develop constructive relationship with the mothers.