ABSTRACT

Background: The proportion of births by cesarean section in Pakistan has recently exceeded from WHO recommendation of 15% to 25%. Unlike previous researches, which havefocused on women’s role and Gynecologist’s view about increasing cesarean trends, this study aimed to explore the women’s perspective about rising trend of cesarean section.

Methods: A self-completion structured questionnaire was given to a sample of 250 women at Out Patients Department of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, a tertiary referral public hospital in LAHORE, Pakistan. Sample was calculated by epitool. The questionnaire included two sections, one of the sections included questions to evaluate the role of doctors, women and role of Community in rising cesarean section according to women’s view, and other included socio-demographic questions. Results: Of the total sample, 236 women responded to the questionnaire. On personal view of women about cesareans section, 196 (82.6%) women disagreed to consider the cesarean section an easier way of giving birth and didn’t prefer cesarean without any maternal and fetal complications.144 (59.5%) of women are in favor of the statement that doctors do cesarean section for the sake of their convenience and are not giving proper information about indication of procedure. In evaluation of women’s perspective about community, (69.4%) 165 are in view of that community don’t encourage them to have cesarean section. Conclusions: Current study strengthens the fact, that majority proportion of Pakistani women, independent of socio-demographic variables such as age, locality and education level, are still considering normal delivery as a more easier convenient and safer mode of delivery than cesarean. Their views towards community show that community does not play any significant role in encouraging cesarean over normal delivery. But they express blaming attitude towards doctors and consider that doctors (mainly private hospital doctors) are encouraging cesarean to save their time. Keywords: Rise in cesarean section, women’s perception about cesarean