The importance of health care worker perspectives 

An increasing body of research has examined respectful and disrespectful care from the point of view of mothers. In order to gain a fuller understanding of root causes of disrespect and abuse during childbirth, it’s important to understand the issue not only from the perspective of mothers but also of health care workers.  To this end, Strength and Serenity’s recent work explores barriers to respectful care from the perspective of nurses, midwives, and physicians.  

Studies across the world: Massachusetts to Tanzania 

We led a mixed-methods study in Boston, asking health care workers at Massachusetts General Hospital what type of respectful care was important to them, what types of disrespectful care they had witnessed, and what challenges they experienced in delivering respectful care. In general, most people we asked found that care was high quality. Still, even in high-resource settings, respectful care can falter when workload is high and infrastructure is strained. Social vulnerabilities like age, race, and language influenced the level of care that patients received. 

Strength and Serenity also collaborated with a team of Tanzanian researchers to develop a study protocol on disrespect and abuse in childbirth in Dodoma, Tanzania. 

Respectful maternity care in conflict settings: Ukraine 

Ukraine is a country under active military conflict whose medical system has been profoundly affected by attacks on healthcare facilities. Maternal and child health has worsened: the maternal mortality rate has increased, along with rates of pregnancy complications including hypertensive disorders and uterine ruptures. (The Lancet, 2026) In disaster and humanitarian settings, respectful care is both more challenging to deliver and more urgently needed. Strength and Serenity is partnering with a physician from Odessa to undertake a mixed-methods study to understand how the war has changed respectful maternity care in Ukraine. 

Respectful Maternity Care collaborators

Odessa Maternity Hospital No. 5

Odessa Maternity Hospital № 5, located in Odessa, Ukraine, provides obstetric and gynecological care for 2000-2500 births per year.  It houses a specialized neonatal intensive care unit as well as a refurbished Soviet-era bomb shelter to provide protection against attacks during obstetric deliveries. As a facility operating in an active conflict zone, the hospital continues to care for women and infants even as it has been damaged by strikes.

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