Community perception of barriers and facilitators to institutional delivery care-seeking behavior in Northwest Ethiopia: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Institutional delivery care-seeking behavior is considered a crucial step in preventing maternal and child death. However, the barriers and facilitators related to institutional delivery care-seeking behavior in the study area were not studied very in-depth. Hence, the current study aimed to explore barriers and enablers of institutional delivery care-seeking behavior in Northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A descriptive phenomenological qualitative inquiry was used. The data was collected by using a piloted interview guide. We collected data using in-depth interviews among women and men; and key informant interviews from the Female health development army and health extension workers in November and December 2019. Framework analysis was utilized for the analysis of the data. RESULTS: This study found out the potential factors which hinder and facilitate institutional delivery. The barriers to institutional delivery included the belief that pregnancy and childbirth are normal and business of women’s, women’s preference of home delivery with traditional attendants, family influence, fear of bad behavior of health care workers, and lack of resources. The facilitators were free maternal services (ambulance services and maternity services), having the experience of safe childbirth at health facilities, and women’s health development army linkage with health extension workers. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that low-risk perception of home delivery, socio-cultural influences, service provision modalities, and financial factors were the determinants of institutional delivery service use. Therefore, a stage-matched intervention shall be designed to improve the uptake of institutional delivery service use. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12978-022-01497-5.