Citation

Castro A, Savage V. Med. Anthropol. 2019; 38(2): 123-136.

Affiliation

Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/01459740.2018.1512984

PMID

30433822

Abstract

A human rights violation, obstetric violence encompasses numerous forms of mistreatment against women giving birth in health care facilities. Based on this framework, we conducted open-ended exit interviews with 43 women who had given birth at either one of the two largest public maternity hospitals in the Dominican Republic. Women's narratives revealed a contrast between scholarly definitions of obstetric violence and their own perceptions of receiving abusive care. Analyzing obstetric violence as a form of reproductive governance and the adaptive preference that ensues helps explain why most women accepted with endurance the poor quality of care that they received.

Language: en

Keywords

Dominican Republic; República Dominicana; adaptive preference; birth; discriminación; discrimination; maltrato; mistreatment; nacimiento; obstetric violence; preferencia adaptativa; violencia obstétrica