AbstractsWomens Studies

Non-western women in the Netherlands are more likely to make inadequate use of prenatal care than native Dutch women. Furthermore, non-western women are diverse in origin which implies diversity in their needs and expectations for maternity care. This thesis examines the factors and reasons explaining non-western women’s inadequate prenatal care utilisation, and the experiences of midwives and maternity care assistants with non-western women. The findings revealed that first and second-generation non-western women’s inadequate prenatal care utilisation could largely be explained by sociocultural factors. For first-generation non-western women socioeconomic, demographic and pregnancy factors also explained a large part of their inadequate prenatal care utilisation. The findings also revealed that midwives and maternity care assistants have adopted among others proactive, flexible and creative approaches to address issues encountered in the provision of care to non-western women.