“They talked to me rudely”. Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in Kenya
Plain language summary Access to abortion is legally restricted and socially reproved in Kenya. Therefore, women requiring abortion in such restrictive contexts resort to unsafe methods that result in complications, often requiring treatment in health facilities. Nevertheless, there is limited evide...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Reproductive Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-023-01580-5 |
| _version_ | 1797864562711592960 |
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| author | Ramatou Ouedraogo Grace Kimemia Emmy Kageha Igonya Sherine Athero Shelmith Wanjiru Martin Bangha Kenneth Juma |
| author_facet | Ramatou Ouedraogo Grace Kimemia Emmy Kageha Igonya Sherine Athero Shelmith Wanjiru Martin Bangha Kenneth Juma |
| author_sort | Ramatou Ouedraogo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Plain language summary Access to abortion is legally restricted and socially reproved in Kenya. Therefore, women requiring abortion in such restrictive contexts resort to unsafe methods that result in complications, often requiring treatment in health facilities. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence on the quality of care provided in public health facilities in Kenya to patients treated for abortion complications. This paper is drawn from a qualitative study targeting 66 women treated for abortion complication in a sample of primary, secondary and tertiary public health facilities in Kenya between November 2018 and February 2019. The interviews focused on the women’s perceptions around the quality of care they received. Our findings show that while the majority of participants stated in first instances that they received “good care” because they left the facility with their medical problem resolved, half of them, when probed, reported delays in receiving care, yet their condition was seen as an emergency since they were bleeding and experiencing pain. Participants also reported instances of abuse (verbal and physical) or lack of privacy during care and inadequate involvement in decisions on the type of care they were to receive. Our findings also point out that providers treated patients differently based on their attributes (spontaneous versus induced abortion, single versus married, young versus older), with women who experienced miscarriages receiving supportive care while women suspected to have induced their abortion being stigmatized. In conclusion, our findings have far reaching implications on efforts to improve post-abortion seeking behaviors and on how to assess quality of abortion care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T22:53:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-72b867c8f89a4c27b644d354f88b6a76 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1742-4755 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T22:53:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Reproductive Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-72b867c8f89a4c27b644d354f88b6a762023-03-22T11:23:32ZengBMCReproductive Health1742-47552023-02-0120111310.1186/s12978-023-01580-5“They talked to me rudely”. Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in KenyaRamatou Ouedraogo0Grace Kimemia1Emmy Kageha Igonya2Sherine Athero3Shelmith Wanjiru4Martin Bangha5Kenneth Juma6African Population Health and Research CenterAfrican Population Health and Research CenterAfrican Population Health and Research CenterAfrican Population Health and Research CenterAfrican Population Health and Research CenterAfrican Population Health and Research CenterAfrican Population Health and Research CenterPlain language summary Access to abortion is legally restricted and socially reproved in Kenya. Therefore, women requiring abortion in such restrictive contexts resort to unsafe methods that result in complications, often requiring treatment in health facilities. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence on the quality of care provided in public health facilities in Kenya to patients treated for abortion complications. This paper is drawn from a qualitative study targeting 66 women treated for abortion complication in a sample of primary, secondary and tertiary public health facilities in Kenya between November 2018 and February 2019. The interviews focused on the women’s perceptions around the quality of care they received. Our findings show that while the majority of participants stated in first instances that they received “good care” because they left the facility with their medical problem resolved, half of them, when probed, reported delays in receiving care, yet their condition was seen as an emergency since they were bleeding and experiencing pain. Participants also reported instances of abuse (verbal and physical) or lack of privacy during care and inadequate involvement in decisions on the type of care they were to receive. Our findings also point out that providers treated patients differently based on their attributes (spontaneous versus induced abortion, single versus married, young versus older), with women who experienced miscarriages receiving supportive care while women suspected to have induced their abortion being stigmatized. In conclusion, our findings have far reaching implications on efforts to improve post-abortion seeking behaviors and on how to assess quality of abortion care.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-023-01580-5Post-abortion careQuality of carePatientsStigmatizationKenya |
| spellingShingle | Ramatou Ouedraogo Grace Kimemia Emmy Kageha Igonya Sherine Athero Shelmith Wanjiru Martin Bangha Kenneth Juma “They talked to me rudely”. Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in Kenya Reproductive Health Post-abortion care Quality of care Patients Stigmatization Kenya |
| title | “They talked to me rudely”. Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in Kenya |
| title_full | “They talked to me rudely”. Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in Kenya |
| title_fullStr | “They talked to me rudely”. Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | “They talked to me rudely”. Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in Kenya |
| title_short | “They talked to me rudely”. Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in Kenya |
| title_sort | they talked to me rudely women perspectives on quality of post abortion care in public health facilities in kenya |
| topic | Post-abortion care Quality of care Patients Stigmatization Kenya |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-023-01580-5 |
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