Determinants of Maternal Care Services Utilization within Conjugal Context in Lagos State

Felicia A Oyekanmi ,Kennedy Eborka,Olusegun Moses Temilola

doi:10.13189/ujph.2018.060209

Felicia A Oyekanmi , Kennedy Eborka + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.13189/ujph.2018.060209

Copy DOI

Abstract

Antenatal care attendance is an essential component of maternal health and critical to reducing high maternal and child mortality in Nigeria. This study focused on factors that influence maternal healthcare services utilization at the conjugal level. The study was carried out among ever-married men and women in Shomolu, Lagos State, between March and June, 2017. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted to implement the study. At the quantitative level, cross-sectional survey was adopted while In-Depth Interview (IDI) was used at the qualitative level. The probability sampling technique was adopted to select a sample size of 480 respondents for the quantitative aspect of the study, while 36 participants were purposively selected for the qualitative aspect. The study examined the relationship between men's perception of the influence of antenatal clinic attendance on pregnancy outcome and their approval of wives' antenatal clinic attendance. It equally investigated the relationship between educational attainment and perception of non-attendance of antenatal clinic among women, and the relationship between requirement to obtain husband's permission and number of antenatal care attendance among women. Results showed that no relationships exist between men's perception of antenatal care attendance and their approval for wives' attendance of antenatal care facility. However, educational attainment among men was found to be positively related to their perception of antenatal clinic attendance. Similarly, test result showed a relationship between women's perception of antenatal care attendance and number of attendance, with t(83.395) = 7.718, p<0.001.

Highlights

Maternal health care services utilization is an important factor in reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes and pregnancy-related deaths for both mother and child
Four hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study. They include: (i) Perception of not attending antenatal clinic among men does not affect their approval of wives’ antenatal clinic attendance. (ii) There is no relationship between educational attainment among men and perception of the effect of wives’ non-attendance of antenatal clinic. (iii) Women’s perception of the effect of not attending antenatal clinic is not significantly related to their number of antenatal care attendance. (iv) There is no relationship between the requirement to obtain husband’s permission to attend antenatal clinic and number of antenatal care attendance among women
This study examined the dynamics of antenatal healthcare attendance among women in conjugal context

Summary

Introduction

Maternal health care services utilization is an important factor in reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes and pregnancy-related deaths for both mother and child. Despite this evidence, level of maternal health care utilization and attendance in many developing countries remain low, resulting in adverse pregnancy outcomes [1, 2]. Though it has been observed that maternal and infant mortality rates in a country depend, to a large extent, on whether women have access to information, education, communication and the resources required to provide themselves and their infants with adequate care [3]; an important factor in women’s access to maternal health services and attendance is the power dimension in the family or conjugal unit.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion