Assessment of Awareness, Attitude and Desire for Labor Analgesia and Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women in Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Labor pain is the worst imaginable pain that women experience during their childbearing years. Untreated labor pain has numerous negative consequences, for both the mother and her fetus. Low levels of awareness and attitudes among pregnant women about labor analgesia is a major challenge that affects outcomes for both the mother and fetus. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the awareness of, attitude towards and desire for labor analgesia and its associated factors among pregnant women who visited an antenatal care facility. METHODS: An institution-based, cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2019. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires by a convenience sampling technique. Data were entered using EpiData 4.2 and exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. Both bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis were used to identify factors associated with awareness, attitude and desire for labor analgesia among pregnant women. Crude odds ratio (COR) and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) were calculated to show the strength of association. RESULTS: A total of 410 participants were included. Thirty-three (8%) of the pregnant women who visited the antenatal care facility were found to have an awareness of labor analgesia. In multivariate analysis, the likelihood of having awareness of labor analgesia was 7.227 times (AOR: 7.227, 95%, CI 2.406–21.720) greater among parous versus nulliparous mothers. The odds of having awareness of labor analgesia were 3.133 times (AOR: 3.133, 95%; CI 1.144–8.581) greater among government employees than among housewives. The odds of having a good attitude towards labor analgesia were 6.488 times (AOR: 6.488, 95% CI 1.894–22.227) higher in government employees than in farmers. Women in the age group of 25–31 years were 1.815 times more likely to want labor analgesia for their next delivery (AOR: 1.815, 95% CI 1.103–2.989). CONCLUSIONS: The awareness of labor analgesia among pregnant women was low. There is a need for teamwork by all stakeholders in health sectors to improve attitudes and increase the desire for labor analgesia among pregnant women who visit antenatal care facilities. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s40122-020-00212-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.