Cesarean could lead to several side effects for both mother and children; the aim of this study was to determine the factors related to cesarean intention based on the social cognitive theory.In this cross-sectional study, conducted in Kermanshah County, the west of Iran, a total of 304 women’s, was randomly selected to participate voluntarily in the study. Participants filled out a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 21 using correlation as well as linear regression at 95% significant level. Mean age of the respondents was 25.91 years (range, 15-40 years). Almost 41.1% of the participants reported who much and very much level of cesarean intention. Our findings showed the social cognitive variables accounted for 67% of the variation in the outcome measure of the cesarean intention. In addition, attitude, outcome expectancies, outcome expectancies, perceived behavior control and subjective norms were stronger factors to predict to cesarean intention. Based on our result we suggested designing and implementing education intervention among the women for reduce unnecessary cesarean.

Attitude, outcome expectancies, outcome expectancies, perceived behavior control and subjective norms were stronger factors to predict intention to accomplish cesarean delivery. It seems that considering these factors while planning interventions could be efficient to decrease the rate of having unnecessary cesarean cases and step forward for better health conditions of mother and infant.