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Background: Teenage pregnancy is a concerning public health problem in India. Misperception and misunderstanding about pregnancy and its preventive methods lead to pregnancy when adolescents are involved in unsafe sexual intercourse. This scoping review aims to discuss the evidence on the perception, practices, and understanding related to teenage pregnancy among adolescent girls in the Indian context. Method: The Arksey and O'Malley scoping review framework and Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers' Manual were used for the scoping review. The Population, Concept, and Context strategy (PCC) ensured the review questions, eligibility criteria, and search strategy. The Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Extension for Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR) was used. A literature search was done using electronic databases by specific keywords such as "teenage", "adolescences", "pregnancy", "perception", "knowledge", "awareness", etc. Relevant grey literature was identified through further searching. The review included studies that fulfil inclusion criteria having female adolescent groups aged from 10 to 19 years in the Indian context between the years 2000 and 2021. Result: We found 40 eligible studies; more than half of these were from southern (35%) and northern (27.5%) regions, and studies from the rest of India were very sporadically distributed. Most studies (72.5%) were published in the last 10 years. The relevant extracted data from individual studies were synthesized and presented in the two major sections, perception, practices, and the second one, understanding and experiences among teenage girls. The understanding of pregnancy and teenage pregnancy-related preventive methods was detailed analysis in about 72% of papers whereas other aspects, such as perception (22.5%), practices (25%), and experiences (7.5%) were discussed in the remaining papers related to pregnancy among adolescent girls. Conclusion: Evidence in the selected studies shows that understanding and practices are the major areas that were primarily explored, where perception, practices and experiences are the topics that are relatively less investigated. Literature synthesis derives misconception, lack of understanding, and practices without knowing the consequences are the key factors responsible for early pregnancies. Future interventions like increasing awareness, providing comprehensive reproductive knowledge, convenient health care aids, and proper counselling are adequate measures for minimalising the problem. The present analysis showed that studies are limited in their scope concerning various aspects of teenage pregnancy in India, so this scoping review gives essential perspectives on future research and implementation plans and policies in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "Perception, Practices and Understanding Related to Teenage Pregnancy Among the Adolescent Girls in India: A Scoping Review," which appeared in the 2023 issue of the magazine.

From 2005-06 to 2015-16, proportion of cesarean deliveries in total deliveries has almost doubled in India. In this paper, we study changes in prevalence of cesarean deliveries across different social-economic groups and study factors affecting odds of undergoing cesarean delivery. The present paper was based on National Family Health Surveys and employs logistic regression. We find that rise in cesarean deliveries has been across social groups, religions, urban/rural India, wealth groups, though increase has not been uniform. Further, many economically affluent states have high proportion of cesarean deliveries. We find that women delivering at private hospitals had significantly higher odds of opting for cesarean delivery. Further, women belonging to rich households were more likely to go through surgery for birth. In case of earlier terminated pregnancies, odds were higher too. The higher odds of cesarean sections in the relatively affluent geographic regions, richer households and private institutions indicate that these procedures may be driven by non-medical reasons in many cases, pointing toward the use of surgical procedures for the convenience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Birth preparedness and complication readiness is a holistic approach that empowers mothers and families with the knowledge, attitude, and resources to alleviate potential challenges during childbirth. Despite its benefits, husbands' participation in maternal care differs significantly between countries and regions. There is a lack of previous studies that look at husbands' responses to birth preparedness and complication readiness in the research area. Thus, the primary goal of this study is to find out how husbands who have wives with infants under 12 months old feel about birth preparation, readiness for problems, and its associated factors. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from May 30 to July 29, 2022. Simple random sampling was employed to select 499 husbands. An interviewer-administered, structured, and pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data entry and analysis were performed using Epi Data version 4.6 and SPSS version 25, respectively. We used multivariable logistic regression to find statistically significant factors. P-values less than 0.05, 95% confidence intervals, and adjusted odds ratios are used to declare statistical significance. The findings were shown in figures, tables, and text. Results: The study found that 55.9% (95% CI: 51.4 to 61.4%) of husbands responded to birth preparedness and complication readiness. This response was significantly associated with being employed (AOR = 3.7, 95% CI: 2.27–5.95), engaging in self-business (AOR = 5.3, 95% CI: 2.34–12.01), having wives who delivered in health facilities (AOR = 7.1, 95% CI: 3.92–12.86), accompanying wives for antenatal care (AOR = 2.2, 95% CI: 1.39–3.56), possessing good knowledge of danger signs during labor (AOR = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.08–3.74) and the postnatal period (AOR = 7.1, 95% CI: 3.14–16.01). Interestingly, residents living near a health facility (AOR = 0.6, 95% CI: 0.39–0.97) were less likely to respond. Conclusion: The present study found that nearly 6 out of 10 husbands actively responded in terms of birth preparedness and complication readiness. While husbands in this study showed some involvement in birth preparedness and complications, it is good when compared to studies carried out nationally. To improve this, educating husbands by focusing on the danger signs and their role in childbirth is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internally displaced women are underserved by health schemes and policies, even as they may face greater risk of violence and unplanned pregnancies, among other burdens. There are an estimated 450,000 internally displaced persons in India, but they are not formally recognised as a group. Displacement has been a common feature in India's northeast region. This paper examines reproductive and maternal health (RMH) care-seeking among Bru displaced women in India. The study employed qualitative methodology: four focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with 49 displaced Bru women aged 18–45 between June and July 2018; three follow-up interviews with FGD participants and five in-depth interviews with community health workers (Accredited Social Health Activists – ASHAs) in camps for Bru displaced people in the Indian state of Tripura. All interviewees gave written or verbal informed consent; discussions were conducted in the local dialect, recorded, and transcribed. Data were indexed deductively from a dataset coded using grounded approaches. Most women were unaware of many of the RMH services provided by health facilities; very few accessed such care. ASHAs had helped increase institutional deliveries over the years. Women were aware of temporary contraceptive methods as well as medical abortion, but lacked awareness of the full range of contraceptive options. Challenges in accessing RMH services included distance of facilities from camps, and multiple costs (for transport, medicines, and informal payments to facility staff). The study highlighted a need for comprehensive intervention to improve RMH knowledge, attitudes, and practices among displaced women and to reduce access barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an attempt to examine the socio-economic and demographic differentials in children ever born and desire for additional child in rural Uttar Pradesh using the empirical data set. Two stage stratified random sampling procedure was applied to select the respondents from ten villages of rural Raebareli district. Total 460 women having with at least one child below ten years of age were interviewed during September 2016 to February 2017. Children ever born (CEB) and desire for another child were the main outcome variables of the study. One-way ANOVA and chi-square test were used in the bi-variate analysis. Poisson regression and logistic regression were used in multivariate analysis. The mean children ever born in the study area was 2.7 children per women and 64.7 per cent of fecund women who had two children and not currently pregnant had no desire for another child. Women's education, economic status of the household, autonomy index and higher caste group were significantly negatively associated with the children ever born in the study area. The desire for another child was significantly higher among those who had only daughters (OR = 1.99; p < 0.01). In conclusion, more emphasis needs to be placed on messages conveyed through the mass media, addressing the benefits of small family size and family planning, and programs that focus on reduction in newborn mortality could also be considered, which would also help to reduce fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Married adolescent girls are vulnerable to risky sexual and reproductive health outcomes. We examined the association of fertility pressure from in-laws' early in marriage with contraceptive use ever, parity, time until first birth, and couple communication about family size, among married adolescent girls. Methods: Data were taken from a cross-sectional survey with married girls aged 15–19 years (N = 4893) collected from September 2015 to July 2016 in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India. Multivariable regression assessed associations between in-laws' fertility pressure and each outcome, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. Results: We found that 1 in 5 girls experienced pressure from in-laws' to have a child immediately after marriage. In-laws' fertility pressure was associated with lower parity (Adj. β Coef. − 0.10, 95% CI − 0.17, − 0.37) and couple communication about family size (AOR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.39, 2.26), but not contraceptive use or time until birth. Conclusions: Our study adds to the literature identifying that in-laws' pressure on fertility is common, affects couple communication about family size, and may be more likely for those yet to have a child, but may have little effect impeding contraceptive use in a context where such use is not normative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We examine the association between the quality of family planning (FP) counseling received in past 24 months, and current modern contraceptive use, initiation, and continuation, among a sample of women in rural Uttar Pradesh, India. Methods: This study included data from a longitudinal study with two rounds of representative household survey (2014 and 2016), with currently married women of age 15–49 years; the analysis excluded women who were already using a permanent method of contraceptive during the first round of survey and who reported discontinuation because they wanted to be pregnant (N = 1398). We measured quality of FP counseling using four items on whether women were informed of advantages and disadvantages of different methods, were told of method(s) that are appropriate for them, whether their questions were answered, and whether they perceived the counseling to be helpful. Positive responses to every item was categorized as higher quality counseling, vs lower quality counseling for positive response to less than four items. Outcome variables included modern contraceptive use during the second round of survey, and a variable categorizing women based on their contraceptive use behavior during the two rounds: continued-users, new-users, discontinued-users, and non-users. Results: Around 22% had received any FP counseling; only 4% received higher-quality counseling. Those who received lower-quality FP counseling had 2.42x the odds of reporting current use of any modern contraceptive method (95% CI: 1.56–3.76), and those who received higher quality FP counseling at 4.14x the odds of reporting modern contraceptive use (95% CI: 1.72–9.99), as compared to women reporting no FP counseling. Women receiving higher-quality counseling also had higher likelihood of continued use (ARRR 5.93; 95% CI: 1.97–17.83), as well as new use or initiation (ARRR: 4.2; 95% CI: 1.44–12.35) of modern contraceptives. Receipt of lower-quality counseling also showed statistically significant associations with continued and new use of modern contraceptives, but the effect sizes were smaller than those for higher-quality counseling. Conclusions: Findings suggest the value of FP counseling. With a patient-centered approach to counseling, continued use of modern contraceptives can be supported among married women of reproductive age. Unfortunately, FP counseling, particularly higher-quality FP counseling remains rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]