What women want: qualitative analysis of consumer evaluations of maternity care in Queensland, Australia

Table 2 Socio-demographic and birthing profile by sample

Characteristic	Having a Baby in Queensland 2010 sample						Queensland birthing population, 2010
	Respondents assessed in this study		Respondents completing the open-ended item		Total respondents		Queensland birthing population, 2010
	(n = 150)		(n = 1,510)		(n = 3,635)		(n= 61,027)^a
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Maternal age (years)
< 20	2	1.3	23	1.5	80	2.2	3,344	5.5
20-24	17	11.3	160	10.6	396	10.9	10,616	17.4
25-29	39	26.0	403	26.7	951	26.2	17,314	28.4
30-34	49	32.7	476	31.5	1,168	32.1	17,607	28.9
35-39	26	17.3	288	19.1	664	18.3	10,037	16.5
≥ 40	8	5.3	69	4.6	137	3.8	2,109	3.5
Missing	9		91		239		0
Education^b
No formal qualifications	2	1.3	20	1.3	57	1.6	-	-
Year 10 or 12 equivalent	31	20.7	369	24.4	984	27.1	-	-
Trade/apprenticeship, certificate/diploma	58	38.7	452	29.9	1,086	29.9	-	-
Bachelor degree or higher	59	39.3	666	44.1	1,486	40.9	-	-
Missing	0		3		22		-	-
Area of residence
Major city	98	65.3	969	64.2	2,281	62.8	36,263	59.4
Regional (inner and outer)	48	32.0	473	31.4	1,201	33.1	22,241	36.4
Remote and very remote	2	1.3	37	2.5	82	2.3	1,921	3.1
Outside Queensland	0	0	14	0.9	30	0.8	602	1.0
Missing	2		17		41		0
Mode of birth
Unassisted vaginal	82	54.7	834	55.2	2,026	55.7	35,077	57.5
Assisted vaginal	18	12.0	185	12.3	420	11.6	5,892	9.7
Caesarean section	49	32.7	487	32.3	1,172	32.2	20,058	32.9
Missing	1		4		17		0
Parity
Primipara	70	46.7	731	48.4	1,646	45.3	24,878	40.8
Multipara	80	53.3	777	51.5	1,969	54.2	36,149	59.2
Missing	0		2		20		0
Place of birth
Hospital (public)	96	64.0	863	57.2	2,043	56.2	41,509	68.0
Hospital (private)	45	30.0	576	38.1	1,466	40.3	18,344	30.1
Birth centre	4	2.7	41	2.7	72	2.0	674	1.1
Home birth	3	2.0	23	1.5	28	0.8	85	0.1
Other	2	1.3	5	0.3	12	0.3	415	0.7
Missing	0		2		15		0

^aFigures from AIHW 2010 [18]. ^bHighest level of education. Maternal education was not reported by AIHW in 2010.

ISSN: 1471-2393