A Qualitative Exploration of Community‐Based Perinatal Health Provider Perspectives About Patient Perinatal Care Experiences: In Their Own Words

Introduction Mistreatment and disrespect in maternity care are a global human rights issue. Patients in maternity care from racialized groups, including Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC), are more likely to report mistreatment and disrespect and suffer disproportionately from maternal mortality and perinatal complications. Community‐based perinatal health and mental health providers may provide unique insight into the experiences of BIPOC birthing persons with implications for enhancing respectful maternity care. Methods Focus group interviews were used to canvass 16 community‐based perinatal health and mental health care providers about their experiences providing care for expectant, birthing, and early parenting BIPOC families. Results Findings derived from qualitative coding informed by a grounded theory approach revealed 4 central themes: patient marginalization in health care settings, cultural mismatch within the perinatal workforce, barriers in patient education and care‐seeking, and limited interprofessional awareness and collaboration. Discussion A respectful maternity care approach to practice with interprofessional collaboration at its core is proposed as a best practice framework to address the sharp racial inequities in perinatal care experiences, including patient‐provider communication, perinatal care‐seeking behaviors, and maternal‐infant health outcomes.