Mistreatment of Women during Childbirth and Associated Factors in Northern West Bank, Palestine

Ibtesam Medhat Mohamad Dwekat, Tengku Alina Tengku Ismail (), Mohd Ismail Ibrahim, Farid Ghrayeb and Eatimad Abbas
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Ibtesam Medhat Mohamad Dwekat: Department of Community Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia
Tengku Alina Tengku Ismail: Department of Community Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia
Mohd Ismail Ibrahim: Department of Community Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia
Farid Ghrayeb: Faculty of Health Professions, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem 51000, Palestine
Eatimad Abbas: Faculty of Health Professions, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem 51000, Palestine

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: Mistreatment of women during childbirth is a clear breach of women’s rights during childbirth. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of mistreatment of women during childbirth in the north of West Bank, Palestine. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 269 women within the first 16 weeks of their last vaginal childbirth to understand the childbirth events by using proportionate stratified random sampling. An Arabic valid questionnaire was used as a study instrument. Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the factors associated with each type of mistreatment. The mean age of the women was 26.5 (SD 4.77) years. The overall prevalence of mistreatment was 97.8%. There were six types of mistreatment. Nine factors were significantly associated with the occurrence of one or more types of mistreatment. Delivery at a public childbirth facility was associated with all of the six types (aAdjOR: 2.17–16.77; p -values < 0.001–0.013). Women who lived in villages (aAdjOR 2.33; p -value = 0.047), had low education (aAdjOR 5.09; p -value = 0.004), underwent induction of labour (aAdjOR 3.03; p -value = 0.001), had a long duration of labour (aAdjOR 1.10; p -value = 0.011), did not receive pain killers (aAdjOR: 2.18–3.63; p -values = 0.010–0.020), or had an episiotomy or tear (aAdjOR 5.98; p -value < 0.001) were more likely to experience one or more types of mistreatment. With every one-hour increase in the duration of labor, women were 1.099 times more likely to experience a failure to meet the professional standard of care. Women were less likely to experience mistreatment with increasing age. Women with increasing age (aAdjOR: 0.91–0.92; p -values = 0.003–0.014) and parity (aAdjOR 0.72; p -value = 0.010) were less likely to experience mistreatment. Awareness of women’s fundamental rights during childbirth, making the childbirth process as normal as possible, and improving the childbirth facilities’ conditions, policies, practices and working environment may decrease mistreatment occurrence.

Keywords: mistreatment during childbirth; obstetric violence; women’s rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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