Healthcare provider–primiparous woman relationship: Association with the quality of prenatal care at the Bernard Kouchner Maternal and Child Municipal Medical Center in Kaloum

In the Republic of Guinea, maternal mortality remains alarmingly high due to serious shortcomings in the quality of prenatal care. This study aimed to analyze the quality of the relationship between healthcare providers and primiparous women during prenatal care at the Bernard Kouchner Community Mother and Child Medical Center in Kaloum, and to assess its impact on the quality of care provided. This was a qualitative cross-sectional study conducted among 23 primiparous women aged 18 to 28, 16 health care providers—including five doctors, four nurses, seven midwives, and four administrative staff members. The results revealed that the caregiver-primiparous woman relationship is generally perceived as caring and satisfactory, based on the caregiver’s perceived technical competence, respectful communication, and availability. However, structural constraints such as service overload, language barriers, and sociocultural norms related to gender and marital authority limit the full effectiveness of this therapeutic relationship. These findings suggest the need to strengthen relational training for healthcare professionals, adapt communication strategies to the ethnolinguistic diversity of patients, and improve the organizational conditions of prenatal care to reduce maternal mortality and improve women’s adherence to prenatal care in Guinea.