Desire for Birth Companionship Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in Debremarkos City, Northwest Ethiopia: Magnitude and Associated Factors.

Background: Birth companionship is one of the components of the respectful maternity continuum of care recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Women's desire for birth companionship needs to be given attention during the antenatal care period to make them ready during labor and delivery. There is a dearth of study about the status of women's desire for birth companionship and associated factors.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of desire for birth companionship and associated factors among pregnant women in Debremarkos city, northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 1, 2021 to March 30, 2021 in Debremarkos city, northwest Ethiopia. A total of 423 participants were accessed by systematic random sampling. A face-to-face interviewer-administered questionnaire was employed. The data were entered into Epi data version 4.6 and transformed to SPSS version 25. Binary logistic regression analysis was done, and variables with a -value ≤ 0.2 on bivariable analysis were taken for multivariable analysis. Adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used to detect the association, and a -value of <0.05 in the multivariable analysis was used to declare statistical significance.

Results: The prevalence of desire for birth companionship was 57.45% (52.6-62.2%). Women who were the primary decision-maker for maternal health care services [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =3.0; 95% CI 1.7-5.6], women with planned pregnancy (AOR = 2.0; 95% CI 1.0-3.9), women who have no bad obstetric history (AOR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.2-4.4), and women whose 1st antenatal care visit starts within the second trimester (AOR = 2.6; 1.6-4.4) were statistically significant with desire on birth companionship.

Conclusions: Desire of pregnant women for birth companionship was high in this study. Improving women's decision-making power, emphasis on the type of pregnancy, obstetrical history, and early initiation of antenatal care visit were the suggested areas to increase the desire of women for birth companionship.