Women’s suggestions on how to improve the quality of maternal and newborn hospital care: a qualitative study in Italy using the WHO standards as framework for the analysis

Table 1 Characteristics of mothers

	N (%) (N = 392)
Age, median (range)	33.5 (18–46)
Italian nationality	360 (91.6)
Primiparous	222 (56.5)
Multiple pregnancy	5 (1.3)
Education
No formal education	0 (0)
Primary school	1 (0.3)
Lower secondary education	23 (5.9)
Upper secondary education	138 (35.1)
Degree	153 (38.9)
Post-graduate studies	76 (19.3)
Caesarian section
Elective cesarean section	40 (10.2)
Emergency cesarean section	55 (14.0)
Baby in intensive care unit	43 (11.0)
Maternal satisfaction with the care received^a
Not satisfied	40 (10.2)
Fairly Satisfied	83 (21.2)
Highly satisfied	267 (68.1)
Missing	2 (0.5)

^aMaternal satisfaction was assessed on a Likert Scale of 1 (not at all satisfied) to 10 (maximum satisfaction). Women with a score 1 to 5 were considered “Not satisfied”. Women with a score of 6–7 were considered “Fairly satisfied”. Women with a score equal or above 8 were considered “Highly satisfied”

ISSN: 1471-2393