<p> Women and men&rsquo;s preferences for delivery services in rural Ethiopia Nancy Beam Aims: This study aims to determine the combination of facility-based delivery care attributes preferred by women and men; if gender differences exist in attribute preferences; and key demographic factors associated with attribute preferences. </p><p> <b>Background:</b> Despite programs to promote facility-based delivery, which has been shown to decrease maternal and neonatal mortality, 80% of women in rural Ethiopia deliver at home without a skilled birth attendant. </p><p> A review of the Ethiopian literature on factors associated with delivery location revealed several weaknesses in research methods that need to be addressed. First, research participants were almost exclusively women, although male partners often make decisions about delivery location. Second, most quantitative study designs are similar in content to the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey, limiting the generation of new knowledge. Third, cultural practices identified in qualitative studies as barriers to facility-based delivery have not been included in quantitative studies. This study addressed these weaknesses by using discrete choice experiment methodology to elicit preferences for delivery service attributes, including support persons in the delivery room, staff training and attitude, cost, distance and transportation availability. </p><p> <b>Methods:</b> A cross-sectional, discrete choice experiment was conducted in 109 randomly selected households in rural Ethiopia in September-October 2015. Women, who were pregnant or who had a child &lt; 2 years old, and their male partners were interviewed. After completing a demographic questionnaire, male and female respondents were asked separately to choose between facility-based scenarios that reflected various attributes for delivering their next baby. Data were analyzed using a multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression model. </p><p> <b>Results:</b> Both women and men preferred health facilities where medications and supplies were available, a support person was allowed in the delivery room, cost was low, and doctors performed the delivery. Women also valued free ambulance service, while men favored nearby facilities with friendly providers. Men are disproportionately involved in making household decisions, including decisions about whether their wives seek health care. Yet, men are often unaware of their partners&rsquo; prenatal care attendance. </p><p> <b>Implications:</b> The Ethiopian government and health facilities could increase facility births in rural areas by responding to families&rsquo; delivery service preferences.</p>

<p> Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood have been identified as national public health problems and are topics of intense debate in the United States because of their impact on maternal and child health and on the social and economic well-being of the nation. While many types of parenting programs are available to the adolescent mother, not one approach has emerged as the most effective to decrease subsequent pregnancies and to improve mother and child health. Using Husserl's Phenomenology as a philosophical underpinning, what it means to be a pregnant adolescent living in a group home was explored. Data were collected from volunteers who had lived in two group homes in a suburban county in the Mid-Atlantic area of the U.S. In-depth, one-on-one interviews using a semi-structured guide were completed with eight participants. Giorgi's steps for analysis of the verbatim transcripts were used to develop <i> essences and the essential structure</i> about the phenomenon understudy. The participants' ages when they lived in the group home ranged from 13-17 years; the time they lived in the group home was between one to two years and some adolescents, after delivery, lived in the group home from six months to two years. Three themes emerged, each with subthemes, describing the participants' experiences: <i>The environment with its rules and structure was experienced as either supportive or not in day-to-day living; Balancing adolescent expectations and needs impacted pregnancy and parenting; and Defining motherhood focused on the basics and was influenced by the participants' own mothering</i>. The study's fmdings were compared and contrasted with well-known nursing, individual development, and parenting theories and relevant research findings. Nurses who care for adolescents throughout their pregnancy and the postpartum period are uniquely positioned to influence their development as mothers. </p>