Factors influencing choice of place of delivery among women in union: are men supportive?

Abstract

This study examines the factors influencing choice of place of delivery among women in union and whether men were supportive using the 2011 UDHS data. The specific objectives of the study were; to assess the distribution of women in union among home and institutional deliveries, to identify which place of delivery men chose and to assess the number of women who had more than four antenatal care visits and were they delivered from.

This research used data from the 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) after seeking permission from Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The study focused on 4917 women in union in age bracket 15-49. Data was analysed in three levels, univariate, bivariate and multivariate level using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). At bivariate stage, association between the dependent and independent variables was tested and all variables significant at p<0.05 were included in multivariate analysis.

Over all, majority of women were in ages 25-29(27%), lived rural area (83.7%), were affiliated to Catholic region (41.2%), belonged to a poorest quintile (21.2%), married (50.8), had secondary education (61.9%), had a partner/husband with primary education (52%), had four or more antenatal visits (47.7%), had six or more births and whose husbands were the major decision maker (33.7%). Institutional deliveries were high among women with age 15-19, rural residents, Muslim affiliated, belonged to richest quintile, had higher education, whose husband had higher education, attended four or more ANC, had one birth order and health decision was made by someone else. And also odds of a woman having institutional deliveries where significantly high if a woman belonged in age 20-24, belonging to Muslim religion, from the richest wealth index, had higher education, whose husband/partner had secondary education, had more than four antenatal visits, had 2-3 births, and someone else had made decision concerning health. In conclusion, most women in union had institutional deliveries, men jointly with women decided to have institutional deliveries and women who attended four or more antenatal care visits had institutional deliveries