Conflict over decision-making on choosing the birth method among primiparous mothers

Natural childbirth is the best birth method. Several factors cause conflicts over birth method decision-making in mothers. The aim of this study was to determine these conflicts in primiparous mothers among women referred to health centers in Babol.
A descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study with cluster sampling was conducted on 161 primiparous mothers referred to selected Babol health centers. The “Low literacy Decisional conflict scale” was used after validity and reliability verification. The data were analyzed using SPSS V.16. The ANOVA, and Pearson,s correlation coefficient were run to analyze data. All stages of this research were conducted ethically. The consent forms were indeed completed.
The mean age of pregnant women was 24.9± 5.3 and 27.3% (n= 44) tended to have caesarean. The mean scores of four-subscale decision-making for choosing the birth method; informed, personal values clarity, decision support and uncertainty were 47.2, 49.7, 36.2, and 41.2 of 100, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient revealed that the four-subscale decision-making were directly correlated to each other (P Findings show that almost half of the mothers had a conflict of decision-making on choosing an appropriate birth method. Although there was no statistically significant relationship between the choice of birth method and their conflict of decision-making, but this decision should be without any conflict in decision making. In order to improve women’s decision-making skills, some interventions are needed.