Avenues for measuring and characterising violence in perinatal care to improve its prevention: A position paper with a proposal by the National College of French Midwives.

BACKGROUND

France is somewhat behind other countries in its consideration of the issue of violence in perinatal care. Its consequences on maternal, but also neonatal and infant health are recognised internationally. Nonetheless, research and data measuring its frequency and its determinants are inadequate, and the relevant definitions are not always consensual. In this context, we, as midwives and researchers in public health and as members of the National College of French Midwives, seek to propose a scientific and clinical contribution to this debate.

AIM

We propose avenues for measuring and characterising violence in perinatal care. Our objective is to quantify and characterise the situations of violence in perinatal care in population-based studies and based on the perceptions of each woman questioned.

DISCUSSION

This proposal for questions, simplified compared with those currently in used in the international scientific literature, has the advantage of focusing reflection around three categories: inappropriate medical care, inappropriate human behaviours in care, and sexual abuse. It should also allow the identification of the contexts of care during which violence may be experienced, as well as the categories of health-care workers concerned.

CONCLUSION

It seems important to us to distinguish these situations, causal and context, for they require different responses if we hope to reduce the frequency and the effects of violence in perinatal care in the future. We propose questions that could also be used in clinical situations by midwives and other clinicians.