Related factors to choose normal vaginal delivery by mothers based on Health Belief Model

Normal vaginal delivery (NVD) is the best method of delivery, but its rate is decreasing. Results of many studies have shown that the risk of cesarean section (CS) for both mother and child is more than that of NVD. The World Health Organization's (WHO) goal was to achieve a CS rate of 15% in 2010, but this rate in most of the developing countries is over than 50%. In this study, we try to determine the related factors influencing the method of delivery selection by mothers in Yazd city, Iran, based on Health Belief Model (HBM).

This was a cross-sectional study done on 130 pregnant women who presented in four clinics of Yazd. The mothers were in 32-37 weeks of gestational age. Samples were selected by simple randomized method. Data were collected by questionnaire by interviewing and then analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test.

Mean age of samples was 42.23 ± 4.52 years. Eighty-four (64%) women were primigravids and 49 (37.7%) mothers were multigravids. Of them, the method of delivery in previous pregnancy was NVD in 29 (22.3%) and CS in 20 (14.3%). In their present pregnancy, the method of delivery was NVD in 88 (67.7%) and CS in 42 (32.3%). The Pearson test showed a significant correlation between perceived barriers and behavior (P=0.012). Also, there was significant relationship between perceived susceptibility and behavior (P=0.03). There was no significant relation between other variables (perceived benefits and perceived severity).

Based on the results of this study, perceived susceptibility and perceived barriers were related to behavior significantly, so we must educate mothers using HBM to influence their behavior toward selecting NVD as their delivery method.