Women's choice of maternal healthcare in Parung, West Java, Indonesia: Midwife versus traditional birth attendant.

BACKGROUND

In the 1990s, the Indonesian government launched programmes to train traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and increase the number of midwives.

AIM

To identify and compare the factors that influence women's choice of a midwife or a TBA for maternal healthcare in Indonesia.

METHODS

This study used a descriptive design for comparing women's choice of maternal healthcare. The participants were (1) married women, (2) experienced birth within two years, (3) living in a rural or urban village, and (4) capable of communicating in the Indonesia language. Three instruments were used: (1) traditional belief questionnaire, (2) preference for caregiver questionnaire, and (3) women-centered care (WCC) questionnaire which measured women's perceptions of care that they received during pregnancy.

FINDINGS

A total of 371 women participated in this study. All these subjects answered based on their most recent birth within the last two years. Of the 371 women, 207 (55.8%) chose a midwife and 164 (44.2%) chose a TBA for giving birth. Women choosing midwives were generally satisfied and perceived receiving WCC. Factors determining choice were (1) women's background, (2) perception of WCC, (3) satisfaction, (4) choice of antenatal care (ANC), (5) family encouragement, and (6) traditional beliefs.

DISCUSSION

The choice of caregivers was determined by not only education, parity, usual source of healthcare payment, and family encouragement but also traditional beliefs.

CONCLUSION

Indonesian women's choice of a midwife instead of a TBA for their maternal healthcare resulted in a higher satisfaction of care and more ANC visits.