Iranian midwives’ awareness and performance of respectful maternity care during labor and childbirth

INTRODUCTION: Midwives’ perceptions of Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) play an important role in promoting quality of care. This study aimed to explore the awareness and performance of Iranian midwives of RMC during childbirth. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out from November to December 2020 to evaluate 130 midwives’ awareness and performance of RMC during childbirth at four public hospitals in Urmia province, Iran. Participants were midwives who were working in the labor unit and had at least one year of work experience. The Midwives’ Knowledge and Practice Scale on Respectful Maternity Care was used to assess midwives’ awareness and performance. The quality assessment of questionnaires was based on the mean for each item. A multivariate linear regression approach was developed to evaluate the relationship between midwives’ age, academic education level plus occupational information and their awareness and performance of RMC. RESULTS: This study revealed that Iranian midwives had good awareness but fair performance of RMC. The mean scores of the overall awareness and performance of RMC were 36.07±10.13 and 75.47±35.4, respectively. Midwives’ performance on two domains was fair including ‘Giving emotional support’ and ‘Providing safe care’. The results of multivariate linear regression analysis showed a significant negative relationship between job satisfaction and midwives’ performance on RMC. Also work experience plus a Master’s degree in midwifery had positive significant effects on midwives’ awareness along with performance on RMC (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Promoting respectful maternity care requires essential interpersonal and communication skills and supportive attitudes from midwives.