Maternal healthcare for women with physical disabilities in Northern Vietnam: perspectives of healthcare providers.

Background: Pregnancy among women with physical disabilities is common around the world; however, there are limited qualitative studies that explore the perspectives of healthcare providers toward pregnant women with disabilities outside of the Global North.

Objective: This article explores perspectives and experiences of maternal healthcare providers in the delivery of services to women with physical disabilities in Northern Vietnam.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 healthcare providers who worked in public and/or private healthcare North Vietnamese facilities where maternal services were provided. Data were thematically analyzed.

Results: The participants included six males and eight females. Ten were obstetricians/gynecologists, one was a doctor specializing in obstetric imaging diagnosis, three were midwives, and one was a midwife/assistant doctor. Four themes were identified. In the first theme, providers attached provisos to the right to motherhood including the view that the women were limited to one child and should undergo prenatal screenings for fetal abnormalities. In the second theme, the providers reported that disability was not incorporated into their education; this led to half of them lacking confidence in providing appropriate maternal healthcare services for women with physical disabilities. The third theme found that although women with physical disabilities were considered as a priority group, decisions around who was seen before others or provided with fee discount/exemption were left in the hands of staff. The fourth theme identified that some providers overlooked their needs for physical accessibility and independence.

Conclusion: This study shows that maternal healthcare providers in Vietnam discounted the needs of women with physical disabilities. The needs of women with disabilities should be included in the training of maternal healthcare providers in Vietnam.