Background Although caesarean section (CS) rates have increased rapidly in Thailand, the upward trend is not supported by significant maternal or perinatal health benefits. The appropriate use of CS through QUALIty DECision-making by women and providers (QUALI-DEC project) aims to design and implement a strategy to optimize the use of CS through non-clinical interventions. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing women’s and health professionals’ preferences for CS delivery in Thailand. Methods We conducted a formative qualitative study by using semi-structured in-depth interviews with pregnant and postpartum women, and healthcare staff. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants from eight hospitals across four regions of Thailand. Content analysis was used to develop the main themes. Results There were 78 participants, including 27 pregnant and 25 postpartum women, 8 administrators, 13 obstetricians, and 5 interns. We identified three main themes and seven sub-themes of women and healthcare providers’ perceptions on CS: (1) avoiding the negative experiences from vaginal birth (the pain of labor and childbirth, uncertainty during the labor period); (2) CS is a safer mode of birth (guarantees the baby’s safety, a protective shield for doctors); and (3) CS facilitates time management (baby’s destiny at an auspicious time, family’s management, manage my work/time). Conclusions Women mentioned negative experiences and beliefs about vaginal delivery, labor pain, and uncertain delivery outcomes as important factors influencing CS preferences. On the other hand, CS is safer for babies and facilitates multiple tasks in women’s lives. From health professionals’ perspectives, CS is the easier and safer method for patients and them. Interventions to reduce unnecessary CS, including QUALI-DEC, should be designed and implemented, taking into consideration the perceptions of both women and healthcare providers.

This descriptive study aimed to explain the reproductive health of urban slum adolescents in the Khon Kaen Municipality area of Khon Kaen, Thailand. A self-reported questionnaire that took about 20 minutes to complete was used for data collection. Multi-stage simple random sampling was adopted in the selection of five target communities to recruit 277 male and female adolescents aged 10–19 years in accordance with the proportion of male and female adolescents in the area. Frequencies, percentages, standard deviations, and means were used for the data analysis. The female and male participants had an average age of 14.62 ± 2.66 years and 14.58 ± 2.84 years, respectively. The average menarcheal age was 12.96 ± 1.58 years, while the age at which the first wet dream was experienced for boys was 14.12 ± 1.44 years. Most of the participants were in elementary school, while 5.7% of female and 2.4% of male adolescents did not attend school. Most girls and boys knew about contraceptive pills and condoms, but not other birth control methods. Contraceptive pills were used by 26.4% of female adolescents and condoms were used by 39.8% of male adolescents. However, it was reported that less than 10% of males and females regularly used condoms. The lowest age of the 36.5% of girls who had had a sexual experience was 10 years, whereas the lowest age of the 40.7% of sexually experienced boys was 11 years. The average age of the group of females who had started to have sexual intercourse was 14.81 ± 1.71 years, and the average age of the group of males who had had sexual intercourse was 15.23 ± 1.32 years. Most of the sample had had intercourse with their girlfriends or boyfriends. It was found that 1.3% of the girls and 1.8% of the boys were prostitutes and that 10.9% of the boys had visited brothels. Twenty-two percent of the girls admitted that they had masturbated, while 41.0% of the males did. About 17.8% of the female adolescents had been pregnant; 50% of those pregnancies ended in abortion and 50% of the females had been pregnant more than once.

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