An Uninformed Decision-Making Process for Cesarean Section: A Qualitative Exploratory Study among the Slum Residents of Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Sultana, Jesmin; Sutradhar, Ipsita; Rahman, Musarrat Jabeen; Khan, Abdullah Nurus Salam; Chowdhury, Mohiuddin Ahsanul Kabir; Hasib, Enam; Chhetri, Charu; Mahmud, S. M. Hasan; Kashem, Tahsin; Kumar, Sanjeev; Myint, Zaw Toe; Rahman, Mahbubur; Huda, Tarique Md. Nurul; Arifeen, Shams El; Billah, Sk Masum

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031465

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessArticle

An Uninformed Decision-Making Process for Cesarean Section: A Qualitative Exploratory Study among the Slum Residents of Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Jesmin Sultana

^1,*

Ipsita Sutradhar

²,

Musarrat Jabeen Rahman

³,

Abdullah Nurus Salam Khan

⁴

Mohiuddin Ahsanul Kabir Chowdhury

⁵,

⁶,

⁷,

⁸,

⁹

¹⁰,

Tarique Md. Nurul Huda

Shams El Arifeen

⁴ and

Sk Masum Billah

^4,11

Infectious Diseases Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh

International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe St Suite E8527, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

⁴

Maternal and Child Health Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

⁵

Family Health International, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

⁶

Falck Global Assistance, Gurugram 122015, India

⁷

Bangladesh National Nutrition Council, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

⁸

Bangladesh Palliative and Supportive Care Foundation, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

⁹

Health Systems Transformation Platform, New Delhi 110070, India

¹⁰

Health Systems Strengthening, Community Partners International, Yangon 11201, Myanmar

¹¹

Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

Show full affiliation list

Hide full affiliation list

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Paul B. Tchounwou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(3), 1465; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031465

Received: 6 November 2021 / Revised: 6 January 2022 / Accepted: 22 January 2022 / Published: 27 January 2022

(This article belongs to the Collection Women's Reproductive and Maternal Health)

View Full-Text Download PDF Citation Export

Abstract

The decision-making process and the information flow from physicians to patients regarding deliveries through cesarean section (C-section) has not been adequately explored in Bangladeshi context. Here, we aimed to explore the extent of information received by mothers and their family members and their involvement in the decision-making process. We conducted a qualitative exploratory study in four urban slums of Dhaka city among purposively selected mothers (n = 7), who had a cesarean birth within one-year preceding data collection, and their family members (n = 12). In most cases, physicians were the primary decision-makers for C-sections. At the household level, pregnant women were excluded from some crucial steps of the decision-making process and information asymmetry was prevalent. All interviewed pregnant women attended at least one antenatal care visit; however, they neither received detailed information regarding C-sections nor attended any counseling session regarding decisions around delivery type. In some cases, pregnant women and their family members did not ask health care providers for detailed information about C-sections. Most seemed to perceive C-sections as risk-free procedures. Future research could explore the best ways to provide C-section-related information to pregnant women during the antenatal period and develop interventions to promote shared decision-making for C-sections in urban Bangladeshi slums. View Full-Text

Keywords: cesarean section; decision-making process; shared decision-making; information asymmetry; Bangladesh

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Sultana, J.; Sutradhar, I.; Rahman, M.J.; Khan, A.N.S.; Chowdhury, M.A.K.; Hasib, E.; Chhetri, C.; Mahmud, S.M.H.; Kashem, T.; Kumar, S.; Myint, Z.T.; Rahman, M.; Huda, T.M.N.; Arifeen, S.E.; Billah, S.M. An Uninformed Decision-Making Process for Cesarean Section: A Qualitative Exploratory Study among the Slum Residents of Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 1465. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031465

AMA Style

Sultana J, Sutradhar I, Rahman MJ, Khan ANS, Chowdhury MAK, Hasib E, Chhetri C, Mahmud SMH, Kashem T, Kumar S, Myint ZT, Rahman M, Huda TMN, Arifeen SE, Billah SM. An Uninformed Decision-Making Process for Cesarean Section: A Qualitative Exploratory Study among the Slum Residents of Dhaka City, Bangladesh. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(3):1465. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031465

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sultana, Jesmin, Ipsita Sutradhar, Musarrat Jabeen Rahman, Abdullah Nurus Salam Khan, Mohiuddin Ahsanul Kabir Chowdhury, Enam Hasib, Charu Chhetri, S. M. Hasan Mahmud, Tahsin Kashem, Sanjeev Kumar, Zaw Toe Myint, Mahbubur Rahman, Tarique Md. Nurul Huda, Shams El Arifeen, and Sk Masum Billah. 2022. "An Uninformed Decision-Making Process for Cesarean Section: A Qualitative Exploratory Study among the Slum Residents of Dhaka City, Bangladesh" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 3: 1465. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031465

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

An Uninformed Decision-Making Process for Cesarean Section: A Qualitative Exploratory Study among the Slum Residents of Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI