RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: to explore the experiences and perceptions of parenthood and maternal health care among Latin American women living in Spain. DESIGN: an exploratory qualitative research using focus groups and thematic analysis of the discussion. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: three focus groups with 26 women from Bolivia and Ecuador and three focus groups with 24 midwives were performed in three towns in the Valencian Community receiving a large influx of immigrants. FINDINGS: the women interpreted motherhood as the role through which they achieve fulfilment and assumed that they were the ones who could best take care of their children. They perceived that men usually make decisions about sex and pregnancy and recognised a poor or inadequate use of contraceptive methods in planning their pregnancies. Women reported that it was not necessary to go as soon and as frequently for health examinations during pregnancy as the midwives suggested. The main barriers identified to health-care services were linked to insecure or illegal employment status, inflexible appointment timetables for prenatal checkups and sometimes to ignorance about how public services worked. KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: empowering immigrant women is essential to having a long-term positive effect on their reproductive health. Antenatal care providers should be trained to build maternity care that is culturally sensitive and responds better to the health needs of different pregnant women and their newborns.