Women’s Preference of Home Delivery in Wonago District, Gedeo Zone, Southern Ethiopia 2018

Abstract

Introduction: Maternal mortality and morbidity associated with pregnancy related obstetric complications is imposing substantial burden for developing countries. Maternal place of deliver and lack of skilled birth attendant during delivery period is the main determinant indicator for the maternal death. Majority of women of developing country do not decide or make choice on place of delivery before onset of labor. Thus, this study was aimed to assess maternal preference of place of delivery and associated factors among postnatal women in Wonaggo district, Gedeo Zone, Southern Ethiopia, 2018. Methods: Mixed study design; employing community-based cross-sectional study combined with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions was used. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to enroll 772 study participants. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was entered to EpiInfo7 and exported to SPSS 20.0 for analysis. Descriptive and summary statistics were done. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the association of different variables. Odds ratios and 95% Confidence interval were computed to determine the presence and strength of association. Results: according to this study finding, 25.6% of participants were preferred to deliver at their home. Maternal educational status (AOR=2.1, 95%CI: 1.27 -3.6), parity (AOR=1.5, 95%CI: 1.08, 1.6), antenatal care follow up during pregnancy (1.575, 95%CI: 1.203, 5.12), place of last delivery (9.93, 95%CI: 2.355, 4.192) and knowledge towards danger sign of obstetric complications were variables found to be significantly associated with maternal preference of place of delivery. In Conclusion, a significant proportion of respondents were preferred to deliver at home. Thus, improving women education status in the community, accessing quality antenatal care, providing quality obstetric care service and avoiding disrespect and abuse during child birth are toughly suggested directions in order to assure institutional delivery in Wonag Distric, Southern Ethiopia.