METHODS
This prospective cross-sectional survey was carried out at the delivery unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital from June 2016 to December 2020. The research committee of the Tamale Teaching Hospital approved the study protocol on May 17, 2016 for the data collection. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual woman after providing them with adequate explanations regarding the aims of the study.
The study recruited women who came to the maternity unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital for childbirth. All recruited women consented to be part of this study. We excluded women who suffered post-delivery complications, those who were scheduled for cesarean section and all eligible women who declined to participate in this study. A convenience sampling technique was used to randomly select the study participants. After obtaining written informed consent from each qualified participant, they were asked to randomly pick confidentially prepared slips that had either ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ inscribed on them. Only eligible respondents who happened to pick slips with the inscription ‘YES’ were enrolled for the study. The participants were required to complete a structured questionnaire which was developed and validated by the authors for this study. The questionnaire was prepared in English and had it translated and explained to respondents in their local language where necessary. The primary outcomes measured were awareness and factors that affected epidural labour analgesia acceptance at the delivery unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
Statistical Analysis
The sample size for this study was calculated using the equation [12].