Home or away? Factors affecting where women choose to give birth.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the factors that influence women to deliver their babies in small rural communities rather than in larger centres that have more comprehensive obstetric services, including cesarean section capability and epidural anesthesia.


METHODS
Self-administered survey.


METHODS
Marathon, Ont, a rural community of 4500 in north western Ontario that offers low-risk obstetric services and has no local cesarean section capability. The closest referral centre, Thunder Bay, is 300 km away.


METHODS
Sixty-four women between 16 and 40 years old living in Marathon.


METHODS
The relative importance of personal and systemic factors and of beliefs that influence women to choose to give birth in Marathon rather than a larger centre. How well informed women are about local obstetric services. How likely women would be to choose to deliver in Marathon if they had low-risk pregnancies.


RESULTS
Beliefs were more important than personal and systemic factors in influencing women's decisions. Respondents were moderately well informed about local obstetric services (mean proportion of correct responses was 66%). Most women with low-risk pregnancies would choose to deliver in Marathon (77.8%).


CONCLUSIONS
For women in Marathon, beliefs are much more important than personal and systemic factors in influencing the decision to give birth in this small rural community.
Zelek
Barbara
B
Marathon Family Practice, Ontario. bzelek@mfp.on.ca
Orrantia
Eliseo
E
Poole
Heather
H
Strike
Jessica
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006700:Home Childbirth / Q000523:psychology*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D009774:Obstetrics; D009864:Ontario; D036801:Parturition / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy; D019035:Rural Health Services; D012424:Rural Population