Socio-demographic factors influencing utilization of Antenatal Health Care Services in a rural area - A cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: Over the past decade, national plans and programmes in India have stressed the need for universal access to health care especially the maternal & child health services in rural area. Many studies have revealed low utilization of the health care services by different segments of the society for varying reasons. With each Medical college adopting three Primary Health Centres, it is expected that there will be an increase in the utilization of the health service. This study was formulated against this background, with an objective of studying the factors influencing the utilization of health services in the spectrum of antenatal periods of a mother. Aims & Objective: (1) To study the factors influencing the utilization of antenatal health care services in a rural area. (2) To study the content and quality of antenatal care. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study conducted at Handignur, Primary health centre, Belgaum. Mothers who delivered during one year period were interviewed using a predesigned questionnaire. Analysis was done by calculating Proportions and using Chi-square test. Results: All the mothers had registered antenatal. Out of 497 mothers, 311(62.6%) mothers utilized full antenatal care. Weight, height, blood pressure, haemoglobin measurement and abdominal examination were performed in more than 95% of mothers. The socio- demographic factors like literacy status, occupation, socioeconomic status and parity were found to influence the pattern of utilization. Conclusion: The results revealed that utilization of antenatal services was good as majority of them received full antenatal care. The prime reason for non- compliance of IFA tablets was side effects. The private health facility was utilized more compared to government services.