Quality Maternity Care: Implementation of the Guidelines for Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnant Teenagers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

The government of a country is responsible and accountable for the provision of quality healthcare services to its citizens. Teenage pregnancy and its complications occur worldwide. Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) are considered the third leading cause of maternal mortality in South Africa. The current study investigated the implementation of the 2016 Department of Health Guidelines for Maternity Care in South Africa for HDP in teenagers. A retrospective quantitative research design was used. A sample of 173 maternity records of pregnant teenagers diagnosed with hypertension were systematically sampled from the period of January 2019 to December 2019 in six district hospitals and one community health centre in one district in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. The respondents were aged between 13 and 19 years. A pretested structured checklist was used to record the data. The Social Sciences Statistics Software IBM SPSS version 26.0 was used to analyse the data, and simple descriptive statistics to present the findings. The findings revealed that maternity care for pregnant teenagers with hypertension was not implemented according to the prescribed GMCSA. None of the pregnant teenagers received aspirin as prophylaxis against the development of hypertension; 82% were not assessed for oedema during the initial visit; and 90.17% were not assessed during antenatal care (ANC) periods. Mental state assessment was done on only 1.7% of the pregnant teenagers. The study found discrepancies in the implementation of the GMCSA for HDP, compromising maternity care among teenagers. Strategies for improving the quality of maternity care for pregnant teenagers are deemed necessary.