Companionship during facility-based childbirth: results from a mixed-methods study with recently delivered women and providers in Kenya

Table 3 Distribution of Birth Companionship variables, PQCC Study 2016

Birth Companionship Variables	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Accompanied from home to facility
No	106	12.4
Yes	751	87.6
Accompanied by
Partner-Husband	251	29.3
Mother-in-law	236	27.5
Mother	100	11.7
Sister/Sister-in-law	164	19.1
Friend/Neighbor	112	13.1
Other ^a	74	8.7
Companion stayed during	Labor		Delivery		Post-delivery
No	157	20.9	556	74	86	11.5
Yes	588	78.3	192	25.6	661	88
Don’t know	6	0.8	3	0.4	4	0.5
Companion allowed during	Labor		Delivery
No, never	162	18.9	524	61.1
Yes, a few times	103	12	72	8.4
Yes, most of the time	230	26.8	110	12.8
Yes, all the time	357	41.7	138	16.1
Wanted Companion to stay during	Labor		Delivery		Post-delivery
No	138	18.4	476	63.4	48	6.4
Yes	608	81	267	35.6	701	93.3
Don’t know	5	0.7	8	1.1	2	0.3
Will want companion in future during	Labor		Delivery		Post-delivery
No	285	33.3	592	69.1	85	9.9
Yes	560	65.3	254	29.6	761	88.8
Don’t know	12	1.4	11	1.3	11	1.3
Preferred companion type in future during	Labor		Delivery		Post-delivery
Partner-Husband	188	21.9	49	5.7	370	43.2
Mother in Law	234	27.3	119	13.9	362	42.2
Mother	91	10.6	42	4.9	138	16.1
Sister/Sister in law	165	19.3	63	7.4	244	28.5
Friend/Neighbor	77	9	31	3.6	159	18.6
Community Health Volunteer	4	0.5	4	0.5	8	0.9
Nurse/Midwife	35	4.1	21	2.5	49	5.7
Doctor	10	1.2	10	1.2	14	1.6
Other	23	2.7	8	0.9	26	3
Acceptability of being denied a companion
Unacceptable in all instances	722	84.2
Acceptable in certain instances	112	13.1
Acceptable in all instances	23	2.7
Total	857	100	857	100	857	100

ISSN: 1471-2393