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Obstetrics and gynaecology
Original research
Satisfaction with maternity care among recent migrants: an interview questionnaire-based study
  1. Sukhjeet Bains1,2,
  2. Johanne Sundby2,
  3. Benedikte V. Lindskog3,
  4. Siri Vangen1,4,
  5. Lien M. Diep5,
  6. Katrine M. Owe6,
  7. Ingvil K. Sorbye1
  1. 1Norwegian Research Centre for Women's Health, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
  2. 2Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  3. 3Department of International Studies and Interpreting, Section for Diversity Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway
  4. 4Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  5. 5Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
  6. 6Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sukhjeet Bains; sukhjeetkb{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Objective To examine factors associated with recently migrated women’s satisfaction with maternity care in urban Oslo, Norway.

Design An interview-based cross-sectional study, using a modified version of Migrant Friendly Maternity Care Questionnaire.

Setting Face-to-face interview after birth in two maternity wards in urban Oslo, Norway, from January 2019 to February 2020.

Participants International migrant women, ≤5 years length of residency in Norway, giving birth in urban Oslo, excluding women born in high-income countries.

Primary outcome Dissatisfaction of care during pregnancy and birth, measured using a Likert scale, grouped into satisfied and dissatisfied, in relation to socio-demographic/clinical characteristics and healthcare experiences.

Secondary outcome Negative healthcare experiences and their association with reason for migration.

Results A total of 401 women answered the questionnaire (87.6% response rate). Overall satisfaction with maternal healthcare was high. However, having a Norwegian partner, higher education and high Norwegian language comprehension were associated with greater odds of being dissatisfied with care. One-third of all women did not understand the information provided by the healthcare personnel during maternity care. More women with refugee background felt treated differently because of factors such as religion, language and skin colour, than women who migrated due to family reunification.

Conclusions Although the overall satisfaction was high, for certain healthcare experiences such as understanding information, we found more negative responses. The negative healthcare experiences and factors associated with satisfaction identified in this study have implications for health system planning, education of healthcare personnel and strategies for quality improvement.

  • Maternal medicine
  • Reproductive medicine
  • Quality in health care
  • PUBLIC HEALTH

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, SB, upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-048077

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available upon reasonable request. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, SB, upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors SB modified the questionnaire, collected survey data, conducted the analysis, interpreted results and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. JS developed the idea for the study, secured the funding, contributed to results interpretation and contributed to manuscript revisions. BVL and SV developed the idea for the study, secured the funding, helped interpreted results and contributed to manuscript revisions. LMD contributed to data and statistical analysis and manuscript revision. KMO helped interpreted results and contributed to manuscript revisions. IS developed the idea for the study, secured the funding, interpreted results and revised manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

    • Funding This work was supported by research council of Norway (grant number: 273328).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.