Abstract
BackgroundSkilled birth care during childbirth is reported in the literature as one critical strategy for reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. Despite the importance of birth care provided by skilled birth attendants, women in rural areas of northern Ghana still give birth utilising the birth services provided by Traditional Birth Attendants. The aim of this study,therefore, was to explore and describe the reasons why a small group of rural women chose homebirth in rural northern Ghana.MethodsA qualitative approach was adopted to explore the reasons why women prefer to deliver at home in rural areas of northern Ghana. Individual interviews were used to obtain a full description of factors and experiences of women associated with home births in rural areas in Ghana. The research population consisted of 10 women who utilised birth care services provided by Traditional Birth Attendants in a rural community of northern Ghana. Data collected from the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed to identify themes.ResultsThis study, which was conducted among a small group of women, yielded interesting results on why these women still give birth at home in rural northern Ghana. It was found out that perceived poor quality of care and conduct of skilled birth attendants; the perception that women received better care from Traditional Birth Attendants; financial constraints and lack of access to healthcare facilities in the rural areas by these women accounted for majority of the reasons why women in rural northern Ghana still give birth at home.ConclusionThe study highlighted some barriers experienced by participants to the utilisation of birth care services provided by skilled birth attendants in rural northern Ghana. Management of healthcare facilities should facilitate the implementation of supportive supervision in the maternity units to improve the quality of care and attitude delivered by skilled birth attendants in maternity care in rural communities.
Highlights
Skilled birth care during childbirth is reported in the literature as one critical strategy for reducing maternal morbidity and mortality
Theme 1: women chose to deliver at home because of poor quality of care and conduct of skilled birth attendants The participants who delivered at home revealed that though they had wanted to deliver at a health facility, they faced insurmountable barriers to utilise facilitybased childbirth., As a result of these barriers, women often had little or no option but to deliver at home
One of the reasons accounting for home birth according to the participants was the poor attitudes of skilled birth attendants and poor quality of skilled birth care at the health care facilities
Summary
Skilled birth care during childbirth is reported in the literature as one critical strategy for reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. Skilled birth care during childbirth play an important role in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality [1]. Skilled care at birth occurs in a health facility or homebirth setting, assisted by trained professionals, including midwives. Evidence reported that about 15% of pregnant women, in developing countries such as Ghana, develop some form of obstetric complications during pregnancy and childbirth which in some cases, result in maternal death [2, 3]. Though the occurrence of obstetric complications sometimes is often unpredictable [6], there exist evidence that ensuring skilled birth attendance during childbirth plays an important role in reducing obstetric complications and maternal deaths [7]
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