| Another barrier to use of- skilled care
is women and families' negative perception of the quality
of care at facilities. This has become more important
as the global guidelines for the Safe Motherhood Initiative
focus on promoting facility-based childbirth for all women.
Although most maternal survival programs already work
towards improving technical skills of providers, CHANGE
believes that use of skilled providers -- will happen
when providers also incorporate culturally appropriate
"caring" behaviors into their routine practice.
The CHANGE Project worked with a multi-disciplinary
team and midwives around the world to identify behaviors
that maternity care providers should practice to show
care towards women and families. The team used these
behaviors to develop an assessment tool that managers
and supervisors and external observers could use to
observe practices or maternity care providers themselves
could use for self-assessment. The tool could also be
incorporated into training programs. The assessment
tool was adapted and tested in Kenya and Bangladesh. |
