Pregnancy planning among Buddhist and Muslim Thai women in southern Thailand

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the factors associated with pregnancy planning and to compare pregnancy-planning scores among Buddhist and Muslim Thai women in southern Thailand. Method: Nine hundred and seventy-four pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria were asked to complete the pregnancy planning questionnaire while waiting to see the doctor at the antenatal care clinics of two public hospitals in Songkhla, Thailand. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's rho correlation, one-way and two-way analysis of variance. Results: The findings of the study revealed that factors associated with pregnancy planning were age, current employment, income, marital status, number of pregnancy and number of children. For adolescent and advanced-age pregnant women, Muslims had significantly higher mean pregnancy-planning scores than Buddhists. Conclusions: These findings indicate that adolescent and advanced-age Thai Buddhist women require advice and interventions to support and facilitate their decision-making regarding pregnancy. Thai Muslim women should be advised about the number and spacing of the children they plan to have.