An Exploratory Study of Client and Provider Experience and Perceptions of Facility-Based Childbirth Care in Quiché, Guatemala

Respectful maternity care (RMC) is fundamental to women’s and families’ experience of care and their decision about where to give birth. Studies from multiple countries describe the mistreatment of women during facility-based childbirth, though only a small number of studies from Guatemala have been published. This study published in BMC Health Services Research, which began under USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP), adds to the literature on women’s experience of institutional childbirth and factors that influence this experience by triangulating experience and perceptions of both women and health workers. This assessment highlights opportunities to address mistreatment of both women and health workers and to build on positive care attributes to strengthen RMC for all women.