ArticleWomen and birth : journal of the Australian College of Midwives2022
The impact of COVID-19 on the provision of respectful maternity care: Findings from a global survey of health workers.
Article in Women and birth : journal of the Australian College of Midwives, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Parental experiences with changes in maternity care during the Covid-19 pandemic: A mixed-studies systematic review.Women and birth : journal of the Australian College of Midwives · 2023Pooled it
- Health workers' perspectives on the quality of maternal and newborn health care around the time of childbirth: Results of the Improving MAternal Newborn carE in the EURO Region (IMAgiNE EURO) project in 12 countries of the World Health Organization European Region.Journal of global health · 2024Trial
- Community-based monitoring of neonatal jaundice using the point-of-care Bilistick® System 2.0.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Experiences of disrespect and abuse during childbirth in the World Health Organization European region: A mixed-method study among 22 countries.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2026Article
- Feeling wronged: maternity care experiences of black, Sub-Saharan African migrant women living in Belgium during COVID-19.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Article
- Examining the severity of illness in pregnant women infected with COVID-19 during three waves of the disease in Ahvaz, Iran.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Observational
- Patterns of healthcare contacts for decreased fetal movements in Sweden before and during the Covid-19 pandemic: a retrospective population-based cohort study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions of maternity staff - a scoping review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- A systematic review of COVID-19's impact on pregnancy outcomes.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Review
- Health providers' perspectives on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-epidemic measures on maternal health services in Nairobi, Kenya: a qualitative study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Towards a universal implementation of labor companionship: a synthesis of the policy and facility environment of eight low-and-middle income countries.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- "She helped from the first minute to the last" - Experiences of respectful maternal and newborn care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nampula Province, Mozambique.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Quality of care at childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium: a cross-sectional study based on WHO standards.BMJ open · 2024Observational
- Iranian mothers' perceptions of contextual factors helping them manage pain in labor.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Healthcare Provider Narratives of the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pregnant and Parenting Youth in Canada: A Qualitative Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- A seesaw of equilibrium, midwives' experiences of infection prevention and control guideline adherence: A qualitative descriptive study.Journal of infection prevention · 2024Article
- Women's experiences of disrespect and abuse in Swiss facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative analysis of an open-ended question in the IMAgiNE EURO study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Article
- Respectful maternity care in Israel during the Covid-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study of associations between childbirth care practices and women's perceptions of care.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSignificant adjustments to maternity care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the direct impacts of COVID-19 can compromise the quality of maternal and newborn care.
aimTo explore how the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected frontline health workers' ability to provide respectful maternity care globally.
methodsWe conducted a global online survey of health workers to assess the provision of maternal and newborn healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected qualitative data between July and December 2020 among a subset of respondents and conducted a qualitative content analysis to explore open-ended responses.
findingsHealth workers (n = 1127) from 71 countries participated; and 120 participants from 33 countries provided qualitative data. The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the provision of respectful maternity care in multiple ways. Six central themes were identified: less family involvement, reduced emotional and physical support for women, compromised standards of care, increased exposure to medically unjustified caesarean section, and staff overwhelmed by rapidly changing guidelines and enhanced infection prevention measures. Further, respectful care provided to women and newborns with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection was severely affected due to health workers' fear of getting infected and measures taken to minimise COVID-19 transmission. DISCUSSION: Multidimensional and contextually-adapted actions are urgently needed to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision and continued promotion of respectful maternity care globally in the long-term.
conclusionsThe measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic had the capacity to disrupt the provision of respectful maternity care and therefore the quality of maternity care.
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