satisfaction. Provider’s respect for privacy and confidentiality emerged as a statistically significant predictor of maternal satisfaction [18].
Cognitive and emotional support plays a crucial role in
influencing women’s satisfaction with care during pregnancy and childbirth. Information and advice, along with
emotional support, comfort measures and communication may reduce anxiety and fear and associated adverse
effects during labor [72]. Prenatal counseling is a major
determinant of satisfaction, as it is critical for a woman’s
understanding of her health condition and her participation in the pregnancy and delivery process [26,29]. Similarly emotional support is also essential for reassurance
and comfort of birthing women. The World Health
Organization has recommended that the parturient
woman should be accompanied by people whom she
trusts and feels safe with, such as family members
[59,73]. There is significant evidence from developing
countries around shorter labor and lesser need for pain
relief associated with psychosocial support by a birth
companion [59-61]. Preference for female provider for
maternity care could be a culturally influenced determinant of maternal satisfaction as it would decrease the
sense of embarrassment and fear which parturient
women may feel in a facility [73].
The major structural determinant of maternal satisfaction emerging from the review is ‘the availability of
drugs and equipment’. A possible reason why other
structural elements did not emerge as major determinants could be that women from poorer communities