Abstract:
Background: Place of delivery is an important part of reproductive health care. Births
occurring at home are most likely to take place without assistance from a health professional,
whereas births occurring at a health facility are more likely to be attended by a trained
health professional. Women‟s choice of place of delivery is influenced by different sociodemographic, obstetric and health service related factors.
Objective: To identify choice of place of delivery and associated factors among pregnant
women.
Methods: A community based cross sectional study design with both quantitative and
qualitative methods was employed in Aneded Woreda, East Gojjam Zone, North West
Ethiopia, from March 1-20, 2011.
Pre-test was conducted before the actual data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS
version 16.0 and qualitative data was used to triangulate the quantitative findings. Bivariate
& multiple logistic regression analysis were used to identify predictors of choice of place of
delivery.
Result: Two hundred fifty nine (65.4%) pregnant women preferred to deliver at home while
the rest preferred health institutions. Reason for choosing home were assessed and
accordingly the most frequently mentioned reasons were “it is my usual practice” (52.9%),
“I get close attention from relatives and family” (43.2%) and “I feel more comfortable giving
birth at home” (34.4%).Teen age pregnancy was also found to be high (65.6%)in the study
area.
On the multivariable logistic regression model; decision maker (when made by husbands)
(OR: 5.1: 95% CI: 1.2, 22.5), family income between 270.8 & 458 Birr (OR: 2.54: 95% CI:
1.026, 6.3), not attending ANC visit (OR: 3.8: 95% CI = 1.7, 8.7), time taken to reach the
nearby health facility (1/2-1hr (OR: 2.9: 95% CI: 1.3, 6.1) and > 1hr (OR: 3.8, 95% CI: 1.7,
8.8)) and previous home delivery (OR: 23.8: 95% CI: 22.8, 24.8) were associated with a
preference by pregnant women to deliver at home.Conclusion and recommendation: Majority of the respondents chose to deliver at home.
A range of characteristics affect choice of place of delivery such as socio-demographic and
health service related practices/factors. Despite the increased focus on increasing
institutional delivery majority of the women in Aneded woreda preferred to deliver at home
and this shows that the Woreda health office and other concerned bodies should work
together to increase institutional delivery by increasing ANC utilization and accessibility of
the services.
