Table 2 Questions for assessment and corresponding categories

Client exit survey

Were you physically abused by any of the health care workers

Physical abuse

Were you treated in a way that violated your privacy?

Privacy violation

Were you treated in a way that violated your confidentiality

Confidentiality violated

Did any healthcare provider talk or use a tone or facial expression that made feel uncomfortable?

Verbal abuse

Were you or your baby prevented from leaving this facility because you could not pay

Detainment

Were you left un attended by health providers when you needed care

Abandonment

Observations of provider-patient interactions

Examination

Provider did not obtain permission from the mother before the initial examination or did not seek the mother’s consent for the vaginal examination

Non-consented care

When the provider did not use “dignified language” or using “harsh tones or shouting” during the history taking

Verbal abuse

When either there were no separating partitions between the beds or the partitions didn’t provide privacy

Lack of privacy

Delivery period

Assessed as the staff being aggressive in any way and the midwife/nurse research assistant indicating whether it was physical aggression or verbal aggression (or both)

Physical aggression

Verbal aggression

Assessed as the mother not being covered while being moved from pre-labor ward to the delivery room or not having closed partitions or being uncovered (excluding the perineal area).

Lack of privacy

Postnatal period

Was the mother not having a bed allocated only to herself

Bed sharing