Decision-making related to pregnancy and childbirth in Kabarole district, western Uganda

• Author / Creator

  Merchant, Neelam

• The focus of this study is to understand why, despite high uptake of antenatal care, women in Uganda continue to deliver without skilled birth attendants. A critical gap in our knowledge is an understanding of the decisions women make during pregnancy and childbirth that determine the services they seek. Using a focused ethnography, we explored cultural knowledge and perceptions related to
  pregnancy and childbirth in Kabarole district. Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with women that had recently given birth, their husbands/partners, biomedical and traditional health workers, and older women.
  HIV was identified as an important reason for seeking antenatal care. Other services used during pregnancy, biomedical and traditional, were accessed based
  on a complex array of beliefs and advice given to women. Thaddeus and Maine’s Three Delays Model provided a framework for analysis of barriers to skilled
  attendance at birth, which include distance, support from partners, and quality of health services.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Childbirth
  • Pregnancy
  • Uganda

• Graduation date

  Spring 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science in Global Health

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3C99S

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.