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Background: India launched a national conditional cash transfer program, Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), aimed at reducing maternal mortality by promoting institutional delivery in 2005. It provides a cash incentive to women who give birth in public health facilities. This paper studies the extent of program uptake, reasons for participation/ non participation, factors associated with non uptake of the program, and the role played by a program volunteer, accredited social health activist (ASHA), among mothers in Ujjain district in Madhya Pradesh, India. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to May 2011 among women giving birth in 30 villages in Ujjain district. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 418 women who delivered in 2009. Socio-demographic and pregnancy related characteristics, role of the ASHA during delivery, receipt of the incentive, and reasons for place of delivery were collected. Multinomial regression analysis was used to identify predictors for the outcome variables; program delivery, private facility delivery, or a home delivery. Results: The majority of deliveries (318/418; 76%) took place within the JSY program; 81% of all mothers below poverty line delivered in the program. Ninety percent of the women had prior knowledge of the program. Most program mothers reported receiving the cash incentive within two weeks of delivery. The ASHA's influence on the mother's decision on where to deliver appeared limited. Women who were uneducated, multiparious or lacked prior knowledge of the JSY program were significantly more likely to deliver at home. Conclusion: In this study, a large proportion of women delivered under the program. Most mothers reporting timely receipt of the cash transfer. Nevertheless, there is still a subset of mothers delivering at home, who do not or cannot access emergency obstetric care under the program and remain at risk of maternal death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To determine the association between Peruvian women's autonomy and place of delivery. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study of secondary data from the Demographic and Family Health Survey 2019 was carried out. The dependent variable was institutionalized childbirth, and the independent variable was women's autonomy. Likewise, the association between women's autonomy and institutionalized childbirth was evaluated using Poisson family generalized linear models with logarithmic link function, and crude (PR) and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) with their respective 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated. Results: The analysis included 15,334 women aged 15–49 years. It was found that a high proportion of women had a low level of autonomy (42.6%; 95% CI: 41.5–43.7), while 92.1% (95% CI: 91.3–92.9) had institutionalized childbirth. Moderate (PR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.08–1.12) and high (PR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.12–1.15) levels of women's autonomy were found to be associated with institutionalized childbirth, and the same association was found in the adjusted analysis. Conclusion: Being a woman with a higher level of autonomy was related to a higher prevalence of institutionalized childbirth. Therefore, as decision-making is a multifactorial characteristic, it is necessary to study in depth the determinants of non-institutionalized childbirth in women with less autonomy. Significance: What is already known on this subject? Women's autonomy is a strategy to improve health conditions and various socioeconomic aspects of women's lives and their environment. Several studies have found that women with high autonomy are positively associated with their health and access to maternal health services, such as institutionalized childbirth. What this study adds? This study found that Peruvian women with a high level of autonomy were more likely to have an institutionalized childbirth. This finding can contribute to government institutions to guide the strategies already in place to improve various aspects of women's lives and enhance their autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: With the worldwide outbreak of coronavirus, a significant impact has been observed on the functioning of healthcare systems and the process of childbirth. Women probably did not even have a choice to adjust their plans accordingly to the current situation. The aim of the study was to examine how the outbreak of the SARS CoV‐2 pandemic state affected the decisions of pregnant women about their childbirth plan. Design: This cross‐sectional study was performed using a web‐based survey published on social media in Poland. Methods: The cross‐sectional study was performed using web‐based questionnaires. The study group included Polish women who changed their childbirth plans, compared to a group of women not sure about delivery plan change and those whose plans had not changed. The data were collected from 4 March 2020 to 2 May 2020, when the first rising count of new infections was observed in Poland and worldwide. Statistical analysis was performed using STATISTICA Software, Inc., 13.3 (2020). Results: Of 969 women who completed the questionnaire and were enrolled into the study, 57.2% had not changed their childbirth plans (group I), 28.4% had changed their plans (group II), and 14.4% of respondents answered "not sure" to this question (group III). The majority of women changed their birth plans during the pandemic because of the potential absence of their partner during labour (56% of women who had changed their plans and 48% of those whose answer was "I am not sure", p <.001). Another reason was the fear of separation from the child after delivery (33% of women who had changed their plans and 30% of those whose answer was "I am not sure", p <.001). Conclusion: Restrictions due to the COVID‐19 outbreak have influenced the childbirth plans of pregnant women. The changes were independent of women's vision of birth before the pandemic. Impact: The restriction on births with accompanying person and the risk of separation from their infant after childbirth significantly influenced the decision‐making process. As a result, some women were more likely to opt for a home birth with or even without medical assistance. Patient or Public Contribution: The study participants were women who were pregnant at the time of completing the questionnaire, were over 18 years old and spoke Polish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Analyses of factors that determine quality of perinatal care consistently rely on clinical markers, while failing to assess experiential outcomes. Understanding how model of care and birth setting influence experiences of respect, autonomy, and decision making, is essential for comprehensive assessment of quality. Methods: We examined responses (n = 1771) to an online cross-sectional national survey capturing experiences of perinatal care in the United States. We used validated patient-oriented measures and scales to assess four domains of experience: (1) decision-making, (2) respect, (3) mistreatment, and (4) time spent during visits. We categorized the provider type and birth setting into three groups: midwife at community birth, midwife at hospital-birth, and physician at hospital-birth. For each group, we used multivariate logistic regression, adjusted for demographic and clinical characteristics, to estimate the odds of experiential outcomes in all the four domains. Results: Compared to those cared for by physicians in hospitals, individuals cared for by midwives in community settings had more than five times the odds of experiencing higher autonomy (aOR: 5.22, 95% CI: 3.65–7.45), higher respect (aOR: 5.39, 95% CI: 3.72–7.82) and lower odds of mistreatment (aOR: 0.16, 95% CI: 0.10–0.26). We found significant differences across birth settings: participants cared for by midwives in the community settings had significantly better experiential outcomes than those in the hospital settings: high- autonomy (aOR: 2.97, 95% CI: 2.66–4.27), respect (aOR: 4.15, 95% CI: 2.81–6.14), mistreatment (aOR: 0.20, 95% CI: 0.11–0.34), time spent (aOR: 8.06, 95% CI: 4.26–15.28). Conclusion: Participants reported better experiential outcomes when cared for by midwives than by physicians. And for those receiving midwifery care, the quality of experiential outcomes was significantly higher in community settings than in hospital settings. Care settings matter and structures of hospital-based care may impair implementation of the person-centered midwifery care model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Home delivery is responsible to maternal mortality due to obstetric complication like hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, and sepsis. The prevalence of home delivery is remained very high both nationally (73%) and regionally (SNNPR) with 74.5%. Efforts were made to increase institutional delivery through skilled birth attendance. But women still prefer home as a place of delivery. This study was done to determine whether home preference has association with home delivery or not and the reason why they prefer home delivery Method. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in East Badawacho District from January 26 to February 25/2018. A total of 552 participants were selected by systematic sampling. Data were collected using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were carried out to identify factors associated with home delivery. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically, and results were triangulated with the data. Associations were determined by using OR at 95% CI and p value at 0.05. Result. Home delivery is found to be 73.6% (95% CI, 69.9%-77.2%). Lack of written birth plan for birth preparedness and readiness (AOR = 14.965 , 95% CI: 4.488-49.899), incomplete number of ANC visits (1-3)(AOR = 4.455 , 95% CI: 1.942-10.221), and home preference as a place of delivery (AOR = 4.039 , 95% CI: 1.545-10.558) were independent predictors of home delivery. Conclusion. Home delivery was high in the district. The independent factors significantly associated with home were lack of written birth plan for preparedness and readiness, incomplete number of ANC visits (1-3), and home preference as place of delivery. Actions targeting maternal education, encouraging number of ANC visits, and avoiding barriers for ID utilization were the crucial areas to tackle the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The healthcare system in Mozambique is striving to reduce the high maternal and child mortality rates and stay on par with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3.1). A key strategy to curb maternal and child mortality is to promote the use of professional childbirth services proven to be highly effective in averting maternal deaths. Currently, little is known about the use of childbirth services in Mozambique. The present study investigated the prevalence of professional healthcare delivery services and identified their sociodemographic correlates. Methods: This study used cross-sectional data on 7080 women aged 15–49 years who reported having a child during the past 5 years. The data were collected from the 2011Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey. The outcome variables were the choice of childbirth services that included 1) place of delivery (respondent's home versus health facility), and mode of delivery (caesarean section versus vaginal birth). Data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate regression methods. Results: The prevalence of health facility and C-section delivery was 70.7 and 5.6%, respectively. There was a difference in the use of professional birthing services between urban and rural areas. Having better educational status and living in households of higher wealth quintiles showed a positive association with the use of facility delivery services among both urban and rural residents. Regarding ethnicity, women of Portugais [2.688,1.540,4.692], Cindau [1.876,1.423,2.474] and Xichangana [1.557,1.215,1.996] had relatively higher odds of using facility delivery services than others. Antenatal care (ANC) visits were a significant predictor of facility delivery services both in urban [OR = 1.655, 95%CI = 1.235,2.218] and rural [OR = 1.265, 95%CI = 1.108,1.445] areas. Among rural women, ANC visit was a significant predictor of C-section delivery [1.570,1.042,2.365]. Conclusion: More than a quarter of the women in Mozambique were not using health facility delivery services, with the prevalence being noticeably lower in the rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Encouraging institutional birth is an important component of reducing maternal mortality in low-resource settings. This study aims to identify and understand the determinants of persistently low institutional birth in rural Nepal, with the goal of informing future interventions to reduce high rates of maternal mortality.Methods: Postpartum women giving birth in the catchment area population of a district-level hospital in the Far-Western Development Region of Nepal were invited to complete a cross-sectional survey in 2012 about their recent birth experience. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to determine the institutional birth rate, social and demographic predictors of institutional birth, and barriers to institutional birth.Results: The institutional birth rate for the hospital's catchment area population was calculated to be 0.30 (54 home births, 23 facility births). Institutional birth was more likely as age decreased (ORs in the range of 0.20-0.28) and as income increased (ORs in the range of 1.38-1.45). Institutional birth among women who owned land was less likely (OR = 0.82 [0.71, 0.92]). Ninety percent of participants in the institutional birth group identified safety and good care as the most important factors determining location of birth, whereas 60 % of participants in the home birth group reported distance from hospital as a key determinant of location of birth. Qualitative analysis elucidated the importance of social support, financial resources, birth planning, awareness of services, perception of safety, and referral capacity in achieving an institutional birth.Conclusion: Age, income, and land ownership, but not patient preference, were key predictors of institutional birth. Most women believed that birth at the hospital was safer regardless of where they gave birth. Future interventions to increase rates of institutional birth should address structural barriers including differences in socioeconomic status, social support, transportation resources, and birth preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Expanding institutional deliveries is a policy priority to achieve MDG5. India adopted a policy to encourage facility births through a conditional cash incentive scheme, yet 28% of deliveries still occur at home. In this context, it is important to understand the care experience of women who have delivered at home, and also at health facilities, analyzing any differences, so that services can be improved to promote facility births. This study aims to understand women's experience of delivery care during home and facility births, and the factors that influence women's decisions regarding their next place of delivery.Method: A community-based cross-sectional survey was undertaken in a district of Jharkhand state in India. Interviews with 500 recently delivered women (210 delivered at facility and 290 delivered at home) included socio-demographic characteristics, experience of their recent delivery, and preference of future delivery site. Data analysis included frequencies, binary and multiple logistic regressions.Results: There is no major difference in the experience of care between home and facility births, the only difference in care being with regard to pain relief through massage, injection and low cost of delivery for those having home births. 75% women wanted to deliver their next child at a facility, main reasons being availability of medicine (29.4%) and perceived health benefits for mother and baby (15%). Women with higher education (AOR = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.04-3.07), women who were above 25 years (AOR = 2.14, 95% CI = 1.26-3.64), who currently delivered at facility (AOR = 5.19, 95% CI = 2.97-9.08) and had health problem post-delivery (AOR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.08-3.19) were significant predictors of future facility-based delivery.Conclusion: The predictors for facility deliveries include, availability of medicines and supplies, potential health benefits for the mother and newborn and the perception of good care from the providers. There is a growing preference for facility delivery particularly among women with higher age group, education, income and those who had antennal checkup. In order to uptake facility births, the quality improvement initiatives should regularly assess and address women's experiences of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]