What do women experience behind closed doors in the delivery room? Interview with an RSU researcher and childbirth specialist
Writer: Linda Rozenbaha, Public Relations Unit
In 2021, a study coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and conducted by Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) on childbirth support from a women’s perspective attracted great public attention. Especially resonant was the issue of obstetric violence. The study is ongoing, and the first comparative results show that rates of violence have significantly decreased. Still the study also touches upon other aspects of the support received.
A conversation with Elizabete Ārgale (pictured), lecturer at RSU, gynaecologist and childbirth specialist, research coordinator in Latvia.
The issue of childbirth violence was the most widely discussed in the study. Tell us what other types of childbirth support you assess, and which mothers you invite to complete the questionnaires.
Many people already know about this study, as we have been surveying women since 2021.
Photo: Courtesy of Elizabete Ārgale
The first data presented a wide range of women’s opinions on their childbirth experience. We are currently looking for mothers who have given birth in hospital (including by caesarean section) on or after 1 January 2022, aged 18 and over, to complete the questionnaire.
This study is important because we are learning about ‘what happens behind closed doors in the delivery room’, how women feel there, what support they receive and how they evaluate it.
There are plenty of studies on the medical outcomes of childbirth, but not so many on women’s opinions and experiences. This study helps to find out what mothers think and need, and it aims at improving practice in the best way to meet their needs.
In addition to the aforementioned aspect of violence, in the first study we learned about women’s satisfaction with the support they received during childbirth, their healthcare in hospital, breastfeeding support, the presence of a partner, their involvement in decision-making, the respect they felt during childbirth, etc.
In the year 2021, we focused on how pandemic restrictions affected women’s perspectives on the support they received in childbirth. Now, the questions related to COVID-19 have been removed from the questionnaire, but the rest of questions remain. This is so that we will be able to compare the answers. Some questions have been added that specifically address the topical issue of mental health. For example, questions about women’s emotional well-being, whether psychological help was offered if needed, etc.
More than 22 European countries are now participating in the WHO study. We are expanding, and Brazil and other countries have also been included – the study is already global. Latvia stands out in a positive way with a large number of respondents in the previous phase of the survey. I would therefore like to say a big thank you to all the women who responded and completed the questionnaire. And now, we are once again asking women to take an active part – we appreciate every single respondent!
I know that you can already share the first results of the latest study on childbirth violence. This type of violence is something that no woman should ever have to experience. What do the first results show? Can we say that we are moving in a direction to eliminate obstetric violence in Latvia?
The first data is encouraging. If earlier (data for 2020-2021) the percentage of violence (of any kind) experienced during childbirth was 17%, it is now 5.2% (the latest figure is for the period from 2022 to the present; responses by 1,610 respondents have been analysed so far).
We can compare these rates with other countries. As we can see, the situation has improved and the best percentage in the first survey could be found in the Scandinavian countries where it lay at around 8%.
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