Knowledge and Perception Regarding Caesarean Section Delivery and Its Determining Factors Among Married Women of Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City
Background: A Cesarean section (CS) is a surgical procedure that can save the lives of mothers and babies when certain complications arise during pregnancy or labor. This research study assessed the knowledge level, perception and various determining factors for caesarean section among married women of reproductive age.
Method: A Cross-sectional study was conducted among 349 married women of Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City. The mixed method was used in this study; where face to face interviews were taken through semi-structured questionnaire and Likert scale for quantitative data and Key Informant Interview (KII) was completed with the obstetricians for qualitative data. Data collection was done in kobo tool which was generated to SPSS VS.20 and analyzed using Chi-square test and logistic regression for knowledge level and Man-Whitney test(U) and Kruskal–Wallis(H) test for perception where association were established with p value <0.05.
Results: Nearly six out of ten (59%) had adequate knowledge regarding caesarean section. Factors such as religion, education, gravida, previous place and previous mode of delivery were associated with the level of knowledge. In this study, respondents who had experienced previous CS and normal as well as CS were 2.822 (p=0.002) and 2.578 (p= 0.030) times respectively more likely to have adequate knowledge than those with previous normal delivery. The prevalence of CS was found to be 32.9% among the studied population. Major factors such as preferred mode and previous mode of delivery were associated with the perception. The median of perception was significantly higher among respondents who had previous experience of CS than the group who haven’t.
Conclusion: The findings indicated that most respondents had sufficient knowledge about cesarean sections (CS), despite the increasing prevalence of the procedure. Respondents who had previously undergone a CS had a greater awareness of the procedure compared to those who had a normal vaginal delivery (NVD). Consequently, stakeholders at all levels of government should be held accountable for ensuring the quality and effectiveness of maternal and child health services provided by healthcare institutions.