ArticleBMJ global health2020
Labour companionship and women's experiences of mistreatment during childbirth: results from a multi-country community-based survey.
Article in BMJ global health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed.
- A multi-centric feasibility study to assess the satisfaction of pregnant women using Maathru Samman Pant during labour in tertiary health care settings, India.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- The prevalence of obstetric violence against women during pregnancy and after delivery in Syria: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Article
- The Association Between Women's Perception of Birth During the Pandemic, Companion of Choice and Support From Health Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Study in 20 Countries in the WHO European Region.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2025Article
- Women's Perspectives on Barriers to Skilled Birth Attendance and Emergency Obstetric Care in Rural Tanzania: A Right to Health Analysis.Health and human rights · 2025Article
- Development and validation of the birth integrity questionnaire for measuring attitudes, maternity care, and perceptions of birth.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Labor companionship utilization and healthcare providers perceptions in Gondar public health facilities: a mixed method study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- "It shows that I belong": a qualitative study assessing birth companionship of choice in a maternity clinic in Freetown, Sierra Leone.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Embracing support: Women's preferences and challenges for husband's companionship during labor in the Indian context - A cross-sectional study.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- Disrespect and abuse during childbirth and associated factors among women: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Impact of Ghana's fee exemption policy on maternal health service utilisation: an inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis of pooled national data.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- The role of birth companionship in women's experiences of mistreatment during childbirth and postpartum anxiety and depression: An analysis of a cross-sectional survey.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Perception of obstetric violence and risk of post-traumatic stress disorder at 6 months postpartum: an observational study.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Labour companionship and respectful treatment of women during childbirth: a cross-sectional study across 16 hospitals in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- "Letting themselves go during care" - exploring patient autonomy during co-designed intrapartum care in a Beninese maternity ward.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- The Childbirth Experiences of Pregnant Women Living with HIV Virus: Scoping Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Integrating support persons into maternity care and associations with quality of care: a postpartum survey of mothers and support persons in Kenya.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Article
- The mistreatment of women during maternity care and its association with the maternal continuum of care in health facilities.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Utilization of birth companionship and its associated factors among laboring mothers during facilities birth in sub-Saharan Africa. Systematic review and meta-analysis.SAGE open medicine · 2024Review
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14 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundEvidence has shown the benefits of labour companions during childbirth. Few studies have documented the relationship between the absence of labour companions and mistreatment of women during childbirth in low-income and middle-income countries using a standardised tool.
methodsWe conducted a secondary analysis of the WHO multi-country study on how women are treated during childbirth, where a cross-sectional community survey was conducted with women up to 8 weeks after childbirth in Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Myanmar. Descriptive analysis and multivariable logistic regression were used to examine whether labour companionship was associated with various types of mistreatment.
resultsOf 2672 women, about half (50.4%) reported the presence of a labour companion. Approximately half (49.6%) of these women reported that the timing of support was during labour and after childbirth and most of the labour companions (47.0%) were their family members. Across Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria, women without a labour companion were more likely to report physical abuse, non-consented medical procedures and poor communication compared with women with a labour companion. However, there were country-level variations. In Guinea, the absence of labour companionship was associated with any physical abuse, verbal abuse, or stigma or discrimination (adjusted OR (AOR) 3.6, 1.9-6.9) and non-consented vaginal examinations (AOR 3.2, 1.6-6.4). In Ghana, it was associated with non-consented vaginal examinations (AOR 2.3, 1.7-3.1) and poor communication (AOR 2.0, 1.3-3.2). In Nigeria, it was associated with longer wait times (AOR 0.6, 0.3-0.9).
conclusionLabour companionship is associated with lower levels of some forms of mistreatment that women experience during childbirth, depending on the setting. Further work is needed to ascertain how best to implement context-specific labour companionship to ensure benefits while maintaining women's choices and autonomy.
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