OBJECTIVE: To ascertain and explore the views of women and their partners, giving birth in the Czech Republic, of the level of respectful or disrespectful care provided during pregnancy and early labour. DESIGN: Ethical approval was granted for a descriptive, online anonymous survey of 65 questions, with quantitative and qualitative responses. SETTING: The Czech Republic.The survey was completed by 8,767 women and 69 partners in 2018. MEASUREMENTS AND FINDINGS: Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to present results. The majority of women were aged 26-35 years. Most had birthed in one of 93 hospitals, with 1.5% home births. Almost 40% never had an abdominal examination.in pregnancy. Quantitative data analysis revealed that less than half were given information on place of birth, or how to keep labour normal or non-interventionist. Almost 60% did not get information on positions for birth. Most (68%) commenced labour naturally, 25% had labour induced, 40% of them before term, and 7% had an elective caesarean section; 55% stated they had not been given any choice in the decision. Over half of those who had a membrane sweep said permission had not been sought. Half (54%) only had 'checking' visits from the midwife in labour. KEY CONCLUSIONS: Findings reveal a lack of information-giving, discussion and shared decision-making from healthcare professionals during pregnancy and early labour. Some practices were non-evidenced-based, and interventions were sometimes made without consent. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The examples of disrespectful care described in this study caused women distress during childbirth, which may result in an increased fear of childbirth or an increase in free-birthing.

• Klíčová slova
• Consent, Decision-making, Disrespect, Maternity care, Respect, Survey,
• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• porodní děj psychologie   MeSH
• postoj zdravotnického personálu MeSH
• průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• těhotné ženy psychologie   MeSH
• uznání * MeSH
• vedení porodu psychologie   MeSH
• vztahy mezi zdravotnickým pracovníkem a pacientem MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika MeSH

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, the government of the Czech Republic issued a nationwide ban on visitors to maternity wards. We studied whether the absence of a close person during labor due to this ban impacted perinatal indicators. This study was performed using an administrative observational questionnaire focused on absolute frequencies of events sent to maternity facilities across the Czech Republic. Completed answers were received from 33 facilities covering 4805 births during the study period in 2019 and 4514 births in 2020. The differences in individual parameters were tested using Pearson's chi-squared homogeneity test. There were no significant differences between the two periods in spontaneous pre-term births (p = 0.522) or in the number of cesarean sections (p = 0.536). No significant changes were seen in either local or systemic analgesia. Data showed a significantly shorter (p = 0.026) first stage of labor in 2020 compared to 2019, while there was no significant difference (p = 0.673) in the second stage of labor. There was no statistically significant difference found for newborn perinatal adaptation. There were also no significant differences in intrapartum maternal injuries. Overall, we found no significant differences in basic perinatal indicators during the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020 compared to 2019. Although the absence of a close person may cause stress for the laboring women, it does not impair objective clinical outcomes.

• Klíčová slova
• COVID-19, birth companion, childbirth experiences, continuous childbirth support, women’s health,
• MeSH
• COVID-19 * epidemiologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• novorozenec MeSH
• pandemie MeSH
• porod v termínu MeSH
• porodní děj * MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• vedení porodu MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• novorozenec MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• pozorovací studie MeSH