Background : Maternal death is the most extreme consequence of poor maternal health. More than 30 million women in developing regions suffer from serious diseases and disabilities resulted from maternal causes. Access to proper medical attention and hygienic conditions during delivery can reduce the risk of complications and infections that may lead to death of the mother, baby, or both. In Ethiopia, the high maternal mortality rate with delivery by unskilled birth attendants shows low utilization of maternal health services.
Objective : This study was aimed to assess choice of childbirth place and its associated factors among women of childbearing age.
Method A cross-sectional study design was conducted in Jimma Arjo district, western Ethiopia, from March 20 to April 20, 2018. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 506 participants. Collected data was entered into Epi-Info, checked for its completeness, cleaned and finally exported to SPSS software version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and Multivariable data analysis was used to examine the association between dependent and independent variables.
Result : The study investigated that home delivery was found to be 200(39.5%) whereas institutional delivery was 306(60.5%) in the study area. Factors found to be statistically associated with choice of institutional delivery at p<0.05 were; history of obstetric difficulties (AOR=6, 95% CI= [2.08, 17.60]), women educational status (AOR = 4.4, 95% CI= [1.47, 13.42]), husband educational status (AOR=4, 95% CI= [1.43, 11.60]), having 2-3 ANC Visits (AOR=4, 95%CI= [1.95, 8.52]), and accessing vehicle transportation (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI= [1.23, 6.46]).
Conclusion: Preference of institutional delivery in this study seems relatively better compared to other studies. It’s shown that attending secondary and more educational level in both mothers’ and their husbands’, history of obstetric difficulties, ANC attendance, and accessing vehicle for transportation have influenced mothers to prefer health institution as childbirth place. Therefore, any programs aimed at increasing choice of institutional delivery should first work on education, ANC follow up and transportation facilities in the study area.