Women’s satisfaction and perception of control in childbirth in three Arab countries

Figures & data

Table 1. Socio-demographic and birth characteristics of women by country sites (N = 2620)

Characteristics	Egypt N = 709		Lebanon N = 705		Syria N = 1206		p-Value
	N	%	N	%	N	%
Age (mean (SD))	709	26.3 (5.18)	690	26.07 (5.56)	1205	26.08 (6.07)	0.663
Education of woman  Illiterate  Primary  Elementary  Secondary  University	81 146 232 202 48	11.4 20.6 32.7 28.5 6.8	208 239 159 26 72	29.5 33.9 22.6 3.7 10.2	422 404 179 102 99	35.0 33.5 14.8 8.5 8.2	0.000
Employed  No  Yes	629 80	88.7 11.3	672 33	95.3 4.7	1130 70	94.2 5.8	0.000
Number of children (mean (SD))	709	2.19 (1.19)	676	2.68 (1.78)	1206	3.53 (2.02)	0.000
Gender of physician  Female  Male  Both genders in team	192 514 3	27.1 72.5 0.4	255 216 234	36.2 30.6 33.2	721 331 137	60.6 27.8 11.5	0.000
Type of birth  Normal  C-section	479 230	67.6 32.4	569 136	80.7 19.3	1010 196	83.7 16.3	0.000
Apgar score (mean (SD))	709	8.84 (1.78)	695	8.84 (0.7)	1195	8.52 (1.52)	0.000
Antenatal visits  Less than 4 visits  4 or more visits	102 607	14.4 85.6	167 538	23.7 76.3	390 810	32.5 67.5	0.000

Note: Totals might not add up because of missing values.

Table 2. Women’s childbirth satisfaction levels and perception of labor control (LAS) by country site (N = 2620)

	Egypt N = 709		Lebanon N = 705		Syria N = 1206		Total
	N	Mean (SD)	N	Mean (SD)	N	Mean (SD)	N	Mean (SD)
Satisfaction  Range (49–155) General  Range (4–20) Self  Range (9–45) Baby  Range (2–10) Nurse/midwife  Range (7–35) Physician  Range (7–35) Husband/family  Range (2–10)	503 596 576 595 627 647 599	99.5 (20.5) 14.3 (3.1) 26.5 (7.5) 7.1 (1.7) 23.3 (5.0) 24.0 (5.3) 6.3 (1.8)	689 704 704 690 703 704 704	127.4 (22.0) 15.8 (3.9) 33.8 (7.6) 8.9 (1.8) 28.9 (6.8) 31.1 (5.6) 8.7 (1.9)	300 1056 1042 1163 389 1119 1057	104.2 (16.2) 14.4 (2.6) 31.5 (5.4) 5.2 (2.0) 22.6 (3.8) 26.8 (3.8) 7.7 (1.2)	1492 2356 2322 2448 1719 2470 2360	113.3 (24.3) 14.8 (3.2) 31.0 (7.2) 6.7 (2.4) 25.4 (6.3) 27.3 (5.5) 7.7 (1.8)
LAS	490	40.0 (6.6)	696	46.5 (11.5)	1078	46.2 (12.9)	2264	44.9 (11.7)

Table 3. Simple regression analysis for the variables predicting total childbirth satisfaction by country and for the total sample

Variable	Egypt N = 709			Lebanon N = 705			Syria N = 1206			Total
	B	SEB	β	B	SEB	β	B	SEB	β	B	SEB	β
Low education Physicians from both genders in the team^a Number of children LAS R²^b F^c	−0.04 − 2.30 1.09	2.08 − 0.78 0.16 0.12 19.185	−0.001 − 0.137** 0.322***	−2.58 0.24 1.38 1.08	1.42 0.72 0.38 0.06 0.37 95.76	−0.57 0.10 0.11*** 0.58***	−2.00 −1.79 −0.12 1.16	1.47 0.79 0.39 0.08 0.50 69.61	−0.58 −0.96* −0.02 0.71***	−4.89 − 0.94 1.33	1.07 − 0.31 0.05 0.37 197.05*	−0.101*** − 0.067** 0.567***

***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05.

^aThe variable on gender of the physician was removed from the analysis for the sample of Egypt as only three women reported receiving care from physicians from both genders.

^bThe coefficient of determination of how well the model fits the data.

^cF statistics measuring the precision with which the regression coefficient is measured.