Healthcare professionals and pregnant and post-natal women's perceptions of interprofessional collaboration in a maternity care facility: A qualitative study from Botswana

Objective: To explore the perceptions of healthcare professionals and pregnant and post-natal women regarding interprofessional collaboration in a maternity care setting in Botswana, a low-to-middle-income country in Sub-Sahara Africa. Design: A descriptive qualitative design using in-depth interviews with forty participants, including healthcare professionals and women in maternity wards. Data were transcribed and thematically analysed. Setting: Antenatal, delivery and post-natal maternity wards in a referral hospital that provides basic and specialist care in Botswana. Participants: We interviewed 13 pregnant and post-natal women and 27 healthcare professionals in the maternity care wards. Findings: Participants perceived several interrelated factors that influenced the delivery of interprofessional collaborative care. Interpersonal factors such as poor communication, disrespectful behaviours and inadequate teamwork practices prevented interprofessional collaboration. Other barriers to collaboration included lack of understanding of each other's roles and responsibilities, ineffective coordination of resources, hierarchical power struggles and poor collaborative leadership. Key conclusions: Effective interprofessional collaboration remains elusive in this maternity care setting. Healthcare systems in low-to-middle-income countries may benefit from interventions for healthcare professionals to learn and practice interprofessional collaborative care.