Methodological issues in the measurement of birth preparedness in support of safe motherhood

Behavior change interventions focusing on birth preparedness for pregnant women, their husbands, and adults in the community are common components of community-oriented Safe Motherhood programs in developing countries. Few studies have examined the effectiveness of these interventions, and existing studies are flawed due to study and sample design. This article highlights methodological issues that are often overlooked when measuring indicators of birth preparedness among multiple audiences for program evaluation purposes in household-based surveys. Solutions are proposed to address each of these problems in an effort to improve future research.