A survey of pregnant women's attitude towards breech delivery and externalcephalic version

A structured interview survey was carried out in 150 women who came for the ir first antenatal visit in a university hospital in I-long Kong between Ju ne and July 1998. Their opinions and perceptions of fetal and maternal safe ties on different modes of delivery for both cephalic and breech presentati on and external cephalic version (ECV) were surveyed. Their decisions on th e management of term breech-presenting pregnancy were examined. Most women (92%) preferred vaginal delivery to Caesarean delivery (CS) in case of ceph alic presentation, :mainly because it was a natural way of parturition. The y perceived that vaginal delivery was safer than CS for both mothers and ba bies, but the reverse was true for breech presentation. About 82% chose ECV as the first choice of managing breech presentation, mainly because a succ essful version allowed a natural way of delivery; Only 2% of women consider ed ECV ineffective, and 13.3% and 18.7% considered it not safe for mothers and fetuses respectively. Therefore, ECV should be an available option in a ll obstetric units. Adequate counselling and explanation would improve the acceptance of ECV.