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Table 1 Descriptive and network and community norm characteristics of women with most recent childbirth, and by place of birth

From: Increasing health facility childbirth in Ghana: the role of network and community norms

Descriptive characteristics

Total sample (N = 508)

Homebirth (n = 240)

Facility birth (n = 268)

n (%)

n (%)

tn (%)

Age

 < 19 years

15 (3.0%)

3 (1.3%)

12 (4.5%)

 19 – 24 years

126 (24.8%)

51 (21.3%)

75 (28.0%)

 25 – 34 years

271 (53.4%)

138 (57.5%)

133 (49.6%)

 35 – 49 years

96 (18.9%)

48 (20.0%)

48 (17.9%)

Education***

 None

288 (56.7%)

179 (74.6%)

109 (40.7%)

 Primary

111 (21.9%)

41 (17.1%)

70 (26.1%)

 Secondary

109 (21.5%)

20 (8.3%)

89 (33.2%)

Employment***

 Paid

16 (3.2%)

2 (0.8%)

14 (5.2%)

 Self employed

137 (27.0%)

38 (15.8%)

99 (36.9%)

 Unpaid/unemployed/other

355 (69.9%)

200 (83.3%)

155 (57.8%)

Household wealth***

 Richest

68 (13.4%)

15 (6.3%)

53 (19.8%)

 Medium

136 (26.8%)

51 (21.3%)

85 (31.7%)

 Poorest

304 (59.8%)

174 (72.5%)

130 (48.5%)

Religion***

 Christian

244 (48.0%)

97 (40.4%)

147 (54.9%)

 Moslem

179 (35.2%)

78 (32.5%)

101 (37.7%)

 None/traditional/Other

85 (16.7%)

65 (27.1%)

20 (7.5%)

Marital status***

 Married/living together

466 (91.7%)

230 (95.8%)

236 (88.1%)

 Not currently in union

42 (8.3%)

10 (4.2%)

32 (11.9%)

Ethnicity***

 Akan

147 (29.0%)

34 (14.2%)

113 (42.2%)

 Mole-Dadgbani

164 (32.3%)

74 (30.8%)

90 (33.6%)

 Grum

98 (19.3%)

64 (26.7%)

34 (12.7%)

 Other

99 (19.5%)

68 (28.3%)

31 (11.6%)

Parity

 Mean(SD)

3.42(SD ± 2.2)

4.1 (SD ± 2.4)

2.95 (SD ± 2)

Region***

 Central

164 (32.3%)

42 (17.5%)

122 (45.5%)

 Northern

344 (67.7%)

198 (82.5%)

146 (54.5%)

Usually makes decision about your health care***

 Husband alone

459 (67.1%)

236 (77.4%)

223 (58.8%)

 Respondent alone

185 (27.1%)

50 (16.4%)

135 (35.6%)

 Other

40 (5.9%)

19 (6.2%)

21 (5.5%)

Family approve health facility care***

 Higher approval

460 (90.6%)

198 (82.5%)

262 (97.8%)

 Lower approval

48 (9.5%)

42 (17.5%)

6 (2.2%)

Friend approve health facility care**

 Higher approval

473 (93.1%)

215 (89.6%)

258 (96.3%)

 Lower approval

35 (6.9%)

25 (10.4%)

10 (3.7%)

Network members known to have facility birth***

 Most

314 (61.8%)

124 (51.7%)

190 (70.9%)

 Some

144 (28.4%)

77 (32.1%)

67 (25.0%)

 Few

50 (9.8%)

39 (16.3%)

11 (4.1%)

Women in community that have facility birth***

 All/most

307 (60.4%)

101 (42.1%)

206 (76.9%)

 Some/none

201 (39.6%)

139 (57.9%)

62 (23.1%)

Men in community that support facility birth **

 All/Most

363 (71.5%)

153 (63.8%)

210 (78.4%)

 Some/few/none

145 (28.5%)

87 (36.3%)

58 (21.6%)

MILs in community that support facility birth ***

 All/Most

351 (69.1%)

142 (59.2%)

209 (78.0%)

 Some/none

157 (30.9%)

98 (40.8%)

59 (22.0%)

  1. Sample size is slightly smaller for some variables that had missing data. Significance tests compare homebirth with facility birth; *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001; ****p ≤ 0.0001