Factors driving the “preferred place for delivery” among tribal women in Southern India

BACKGROUND: Mother and child health is an important issue for the tribal community and a lot of it depends on the prenatal, natal and postnatal care of the mother and child. Institutional deliveries are known to have a positive impact on their health and it is important to understand the factors that lead to the choice of place of delivery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community-based study was conducted in the tribal area of H D Kote taluk Mysore. Of 16 Primary Health Centers, five centers which cover nearly 50% of the population were chosen for the study. All the mothers who resided in those areas and delivered from January 2013 to December 2013 were chosen for study, which came to 215. Those who had migrated to areas outside our study area and those who were not found in home during data collection home visit were left out. Hence, the final sample size came to be 165. Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test and logistic regression analysis were applied to test the significance of association of factors with place of delivery. RESULTS: In the present study, 20.6% mothers had delivered at home, 12.7% in government hospital, and 66.7% in private hospital. Past delivery experience, early registration of pregnancies, and higher number of pregnancies were the factor found to be significantly associated with institutional deliveries. CONCLUSION: Mothers who utilize the antenatal care services and who have had experience of delivery in a hospital/higher number of deliveries are more likely to choose hospital for their delivery.