Childbirth care in health services affiliated with the Stork Network in Brazil: the users' perspective

This study aimed to analyze sociodemographic and reproductive factors associated with childbirth care in health services affiliated with the Stork Network in Brazil, from the users' perspective. The sample included 10,540 postpartum women from 606 services. The outcome was the latent variable reception of the patient, consisting of five indicators: healthcare staff members introducing themselves stating their names and roles, calling the pregnant woman by her name, the patient's understanding of the information provided, the patient feeling well treated and respected, and the patient having her needs met by the staff. The explanatory variables were maternal age, schooling, skin color, marital status, type of delivery, parity, and number of services visited before admission for childbirth. Most of the women were 20 to 34 years of age (68.31%), self-identified as brown (56.3%), had 9 to 11 years of schooling (56.1%), and were married or lived with the partner (78.8%). There was a predominance of vaginal delivery (56.6%), with one or two previous children (46%), and reports of not having gone to more than one maternity service to be admitted (91.9%). There was a direct positive effect on reception for childbirth from patient´s higher age (SC = 0.094; p < 0.001) and more schooling (SC = 0.096; p < 0.001). Cesarean delivery had a direct negative effect (SC = -0.059; p < 0.002), and black and brown skin color had direct and indirect negative effects (SC = -0.081; p < 0.001 and SC = -0.014; p < 0.001). Older postpartum women and those with more schooling and vaginal delivery had a more positive perception of their reception by maternity services.