Home birth and barriers to referring women with obstetric complications to hospitals: a mixed-methods study in Zahedan, southeastern Iran.

The article presents the findings of a study conducted on determining the factors that hinder midwives and parturient women from using hospitals when complications occur during home birth in Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran, where 23 percent of all deliveries take place in non- hospital settings. It discusses the methodology used for the study. It concludes that hospitals must be safe and comfortable environments for parturition.