Choosing where to give birth: Factors influencing migrant women's decision making in two regions of Thailand

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 4; p. e0230407
• Main Authors: Tschirhart, Naomi, Jiraporncharoen, Wichuda, Angkurawaranon, Chaisiri, Hashmi, Ahmar, Nosten, Suphak, McGready, Rose, Ottersen, Trygve
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 02.04.2020; PLOS; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Biology and Life Sciences; Birth; Children; Choice Behavior; Death; Decision Making; Delivery (Childbirth); Desire; Documentation; Female; Focus groups; Health care; Health care industry; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; Insurance coverage; Language; Medicine and Health Sciences; Migrants; Neonates; Newborn infants; Parturition - psychology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology; People and Places; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Pregnant Women - psychology; Qualitative Research; Rural areas; Social Sciences; Thailand; Transients and Migrants - psychology; Women; Womens health; Thailand; Myanmar; Norway; Myanmar (Burma)
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230407

Choosing where to give birth can be a matter of life and death for both mother and child. Migrants, registered or unregistered, may face different choices and challenges than non-migrants. Despite this, previous research on the factors migrant women consider when deciding where to give birth is very limited. This paper addresses this gap by examining women's decision making in a respective border and urban locale in Thailand. We held focus group discussions [13] with 72 non-Thai pregnant migrant women at non-government clinics in a rural border area and at two hospitals in Chiang Mai, a large city in Northern Thailand in 2018. We asked women where they will go to give birth and to explain the factors that influenced their decision. Women identified getting the relevant documentation necessary to register their child's birth, safe birth and medical advice/quality care, as the top three factors that influenced their care seeking decision making. Language of service, free or low cost care, language of services, proximity to home, and limited alternate options for care were also identified as important considerations. Understanding factors that migrant women value when choosing where to deliver can help health care providers to create services that are responsive to migrants' preferences and encourage provision of relevant information which may influence patient decision making. The desire to obtain birth documentation for their child appears to be important for migrants who understand the importance of personal documentation for the lives of their children. Healthcare institutions may wish to introduce processes to facilitate obtaining documentation for pregnant migrant women and their newborns.