Nuclear Family Type Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Social Development in Preschool Children of Working and Non-Working Mothers

Background: Children's social development affects how they socialize with their surrounding environment, where some children have difficulty socializing and adjusting to the environment. The purpose of this study was to compare the social development of preschool-age children in working mothers and non-working mothers.Methods: This study used analytical observations with a cross-sectional design conducted by 113 mothers with preschool children aged 4-6. Data was collected using the DDST II questionnaire sheet specifically for aspects of personal social development. Results: The respondents were 20-35 years old (79.6%), almost half of the children were four years old (40.7%), and also half of the children were female (64.6%). Next, half of the mothers were working (75.3%), the nuclear family type (61.9%), and the social development of preschool children were mostly in the caution category, as much as 47.8%. There was a difference in the social development of children in working mothers and non-working mothers (p-value<0.05). Conclusion: It is expected that working mothers can manage their time, guide and supervise the development of their children, and provide independent trust and freedom to children so that they are not dependent on their parents to carry out age-appropriate developmental tasks.

Kaitan Gender dan Struktur Keluarga dengan Pemberian Intervensi Gizi Spesifik pada Anak Usia 6-23 Bulan

This study aimed to explore the relationship between gender and family structure by providing specific nutritional interventions to children aged 6-23 months. The method used was analytical observational with a cross-sectional approach. The research results from chi-square analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between the child's gender and family type and the provision of specific nutrition (p value <0.05). The majority of male children received positive specific nutrition, namely 52.2%, and girls received positive specific nutrition, namely 64.9%. The nuclear family type provided specific nutrition positively by 63.1% and the large family type provided specific nutrition negatively by 52.8%. In conclusion, the child's gender and family type have a significant influence on the provision of specific nutrition and nuclear families are more likely to provide better nutrition. Keyword: Child's Gender, Provision of Specific Nutrition, Stunting, Family Type

Community Awareness and Perception Regarding Vaccination against COVID-19, Concerns about Side Effects in Gezira State, Sudan

Introduction: Vaccine hesitancy is undermining individual and community protection from vaccine-preventable diseases. This study aimed to investigate the level of awareness and perception of the COVID-19 vaccine and its determinants among people in Wad Madani City, Gezira State, as well as its known side effects. Methods and Results: This cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlative study included 400 participants (56.8% females and 43.2% males) who visited Wad Madani neighborhood COVID-19 centers during the data collection period (June 2022). The data was collected using a structured questionnaire based on prior published studies. Approximately 93.0% of the participants knew the importance of the COVID-19 vaccines, 84.8% knew about their effectiveness, and 83.8% knew that the vaccines help to reduce the risk of virus infection. However, only 58.0% were vaccinated against COVID-19. The results showed that 56.8% of the participants did not develop side effects. Among those who did, the most common side effects were headache and fever (10.2%), injection site pain (7.9%), myalgia (7.1%), and chills and swelling (5.6%). The results showed that 52.5% had negative perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccines. Urban residents were 2.17 times more likely to have a positive perception of the COVID-19 vaccine than rural residents (P=0.05). Furthermore, study participants with nuclear family type have shown a positive attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccines and were 2.32 times more likely to have had a positive attitude than participants with extended family (P=0.036). Moreover, participants not vaccinated were found to be less likely to have had a positive attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccine, when compared with vaccinated participants (P= 0.005). Conclusion: Although society is aware of the need for COVID-19 immunization, the community has a low positive perception toward COVID-19 vaccination. Similarly, people in rural areas are less aware of the significance of immunization. Local health officials must collaborate to address public fears about vaccinations through the media.

Knowledge and Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) services among Research Faculties of CCS HAU, Hisar

The study was carried to determine the knowledge and access of ICTs services among the research faculties of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. All the colleges of university were selected. Data were collected personally from 120 research faculties selected by simple random sampling technique through a structured questionnaire and analyzed with the help of appropriate statistical tools by using 26 version (SPSS). The findings revealed that majority of the respondents were male having age between 37-47 years with PhD with NET having service experience of 6-10 years belonged to nuclear type of family and had medium family educational status. Knowledge and access regarding MS office and online ICT applications was medium to high among majority of the respondents. Moreover, knowledge and access regarding internet were medium to low while knowledge and access regarding scientific portal/website/tools was found low among respondents.

IJCM_191A: A study of awareness regarding harmful effects of tobacco consumption among an urban population of Raipur.

Background: Tobacco consumption has been significantly linked to increased mortality and morbidity. It gives rise to several diseases such as lung cancer, oral cancer, COPD, asthma, and dental problems as well as aggravates other diseases like TB, asbestosis, heart ailments, etc. It is the need of the hour to increase awareness about the adverse effects of tobacco addiction. Objectives: To study awareness regarding harmful effects of tobacco consumption among an urban population of Raipur. Methodology: Data was collected as part of an ongoing cross-sectional study in June 2023 in the Urban Field Practice area of AIIMS Raipur (Ward 24 and 25). Demographic details including age [40-74 years], gender, education, family type, addiction history, etc. were collected. A semi-structured questionnaire adapted from the WHO STEPS survey and GATS survey was used to collect information on tobacco awareness. Results: Data entry was done in Excel and analyzed in SPSS version 21. Among the 200 participants, 54.5% (109) were female and the rest male. The majority of participants belonged to Hindu religion (96.5%), nuclear family type (50%), and OBC caste (54%). About 10.5% of participants were current smokers, most of them male. Smokeless tobacco consumption like gudakhu, gutkha, and pan was more prevalent than smoking, especially in women (29%). Smokeless tobacco consumption was almost equal in both genders. Awareness improved with an increase in educational status and with younger age categories, which were found to be significant. Only 73% of males and 39.4% of females were aware of the harmful health effects of tobacco consumption. Conclusion: Illiteracy and easy accessibility of tobacco products at cheap prices, especially for smokeless tobacco and lack of awareness has led to extensive consumption of these products and hence, efforts must be made in these directions by various measures, such as policies, bans, taxes and health education.

Sociodemographic Predictors of Care Burden and Psychological Distress in Schizophrenia

Abstract Background: Caregiving is schizophrenia is challenging and burdensome. Aim and Objectives: The study aimed to know the sociodemographic predictors of care burden and psychological distress in schizophrenia. Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional descriptive study. A total sample of 540 caregivers of persons with schizophrenia was selected, using purposive sampling from the outpatient Department of LGBRIMH, Tezpur, Assam. The study was approved by the IEC of LGBRIMH, Tezpur. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 23.0. Results: The mean age of patients and their caregivers was 35.6 ± 13.4 and 37.7 ± 12.4 years, respectively. Moderate to severe level of care burden was present in male caregivers (55.6%). Severe level of stress, anxiety, and depression was present in majority of the male respondents (42.5%, 43.2%, and 49.0%, respectively) who were the primary caregivers (41.2%, 40.8%, and 48.9%, respectively), married (41.2%, 37.7%, and 48.1%, respectively), belonging to rural background (43.8%, 43.2%, and 48.5%, respectively), educated till primary level (42.6%, 44.6%, and 58.3%, respectively), mostly unemployed (49.2%, 47.5%, and 50.8%, respectively) belonging to lower socioeconomic background (46.6%, 49.2%, and 48.0%, respectively), and with a history of mental illness in the family (41.6%, 40.7%, and 48.0%, respectively). Extremely severe level of stress (57.1%), with severe level of anxiety and depression (41.7%, 52.8%), was present in majority of the caregivers having nuclear family type condition. Marital status, occupation, family income, and type of caregiving contribute significantly to the prediction of care burden (F [14,525] =11.6, P = 0.001), whereas, caregiver’s gender, education, and, patient’s onset of illness contribute significantly to the prediction of psychological distress among caregivers (F [14,525] =5.31, P = 0.001). Conclusion: Psychosocial intervention is the need of the hour.

Personal and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Dairy Farmers of Valsad District of Gujarat

A field survey was conducted in Valsad district of Gujarat to ascertain the personal, socio-economic characteristics of dairy farmers and data were collected randomly from 240 dairy animal owners through personal interview with the help of structured interview schedule. The present study revealed that majority of the owners were belonged middle age group, literate, nuclear type of family with more number of children making big size family. Most of the respondents were from schedule tribe category having medium level of extension contacts and mass media exposure with membership in one organization. Only few of the respondents were landless categories. Majority of respondents had small herd size and they possessed agriculture and livestock as their livelihood.

Covid-19 Döneminde Toplumun İhtiyaç Duyduğu Sağlık Hizmetlerine Erişme Durumu ve Covid-19 Korkusu ile Algılanan Sağlık Arasındaki İlişki: Kesitsel Çalışma

Aim: In the Covid pandemic, the need for health services of the society increases with the burden of health institutions. This study was planned to determine how the health perception of the society, fear of Covid, and current conditions affect individuals' access to healthcare services they need. Materials and Methods: This study is of cross-sectional type. An online anonymous questionnaire was first sent to people in the directory via social media, using the snowball sampling method, and they were encouraged to pass the survey to others. Since the State of the Republic of Turkey recommended minimizing face-to-face interaction and staying in social isolation at home during the Covid-19 period, and due to restrictions and prohibitions, it was ensured that the surveys were applied to the participants online with the form link created in Google Forms. A total of 434 people were reached. Result: The average age of the participants is 30.69 ± 10.78 and 20.7% of them are male. 50.9% of them are single and 71.2% are university graduates. 78.1% of them have a nuclear family type and almost half of them reported their income as equal to income and expenses. Participants' Coronovirus-19 Fear Scale is overall Mean = 18.28, sd = 6.90 and it is not high, and Perception of Health Scale is overall Mean = 52.41, sd = 8.04 and can be qualified as high. Conclusion: Participants' fear of Covid-19 is lower than expected. However, people avoided going to hospitals even for routine check-ups and drug dosage adjustments.

Factors And Determinants Associated With Prevalence Of Anaemia In Adults In Karachi, Pakistan.

To assess the demographic and dietary factors associated with the prevalence of anaemia in multi-ethnic urban settings. The cross-sectional community-based survey study was conducted from August 2020 to May 2021 in Karachi East district, and comprised healthy adults of either gender aged 20-60 years. Data was collected using a pretested questionnaire. Besides, 4ml sample of whole blood was taken from each participant for haematological analysis. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. Of the 416 subjects, 269(64.7%) were males and 147(35.3%) were females, while 334(80.3%) were aged <30 years and 82(19.7%) were aged >30 years. Anaemia was found in 92(22.1%) subjects. Female gender, lower and middle socioeconomic class, nuclear family type, habit of meal-skipping, and infrequent consumption of sweets and milk were all linked to anaemia (p<0.05). Less than a quarter of the sample was found to be anaemic. Steps should be taken to address the identified causes of anaemia.

A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY OF CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS OF PSYCHO SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT TO HIV POSITIVE STATUS FACED BY HIV POSITIVE ADOLESCENTS IN JAMNAGAR DISTRICT

Background: Adolescents constitute 22% of Indias population.There are total 5.8 million people living with HIV in India, 2018. Over 35% of all reported AIDS cases in India occur among young people in the age group of 15-24 years. Aim &amp; Objectives: To document the factors affecting the psycho- social adjustment to HIV Positive status among HIV Positive adolescents. Material &amp;Method: It was a hospital based cross sectional study (quantitative component).There were 108 HIV positive adolescents registered upto February, 2020 at ART Centre, Jamnagar (Tertiary care institute), Gujarat. Out of 108 HIV positive adolescents, I approached 84 adolescents during their regular monthly follow up visit for treatment and counselling at ART center. 24 subjects from ART register were not included in this study because either lost to follow up at ART center or death. Out of 84 subjects only 77 were disclosed their HIV status and consented to be enrolled and interviewed under the study. Pretested semi-structured questionnaire provided to participants which containing socio-demographic information, issues during transition for adjustment within the family and society and status disclosure were filled up for quantitative data. Study was approved by Institutional Ethical Committee, shrim.p.shahgovt medical college, Jamnagar, gujarat and also approved by Gujarat state AIDS Control Society, Ahmedabad. Results:Mean age of participants was 14.88 years (SD± 2.52). Most of them were boys (55.80%) and Hindu by cast (92.20%). Majority of the participants belonged to Nuclear type of family (87.01%) and living with biological parent/parents (87.01%). Majority participants had their mother positive (80.51%) followed by father (66.23%). Majority of the participants were disclosed about their status by first degree relative (mostly mother or father) (75.32%). Only 1(1.31%) participants, reported problem in consuming medicine after transition to adult clinic. Conclusion: Stigma and Discrimination plays a pivotal role in the psychological health of HIV adolescents and loss of parents was found to have a significant impact on the psycho-social adjustment among these adolescents. The knowledge regarding the spread of HIV &amp; its various routes of transmission was found to be low in some study participants.

Equity and extent of financial risk protection indicators during COVID-19 pandemic in rural part of Tamil Nadu, India

Catastrophic health expenditure [CHE] in India is on a rise. This situation would worsen even further when resources are disproportionately distributed across various socioeconomic classes. Hence, we conducted this study to determine the equity and extent of out-of-pocket [OOP] payments, Catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment among rural households during COVID-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu, India. A cross-sectional survey covering 2409 households was conducted during November 2021 across six districts in rural part of Tamil Nadu. Information on out-of-pocket payments, Catastrophic health expenditure (based on 40% capacity-to-pay [CTP] method) and impoverishment was obtained through World Health Organization standard criteria. Point estimates were reported as proportions with 95% Confidence Interval [CI]. Our results showed that the proportion of households with out-of-pocket payments on health and Catastrophic health expenditure in the month preceding the survey was 82.8% (95%CI: 81.2%–84.3%) and 26.9% (95%CI: 25.1%–28.7%) respectively. Nuclear (couple with dependent children only) and joint family type (extended family), presence of under-five children and lower socioeconomic status were significant determinants of Catastrophic health expenditure. The prevalence of impoverishment was 6.4% (95%CI: 5.4%–7.5%). To conclude, more than three fourth of the rural households in Tamil Nadu has out-of-pocket payments for health with one-fourth having Catastrophic health expenditure. Almost one in fourteen non-poor households faced impoverishment during the COVID-19 pandemic. This shows the disproportionate distribution of health expenses especially in the rural areas. Hence, appropriate financial risk protection measures should be taken in order to progress towards universal healthcare in our country.

Out-of-pocket health expenditures in patients living with ınborn errors of metabolism

AimThe implementation of newborn screening programs for inborn errors of metabolism has advanced the diagnosis and management of affected infants and undoubtedly improved their outcomes. We aimed to determine out-of-pocket health expenditures of patients with inborn errors of metabolism during follow-up and treatment processes and to determine the economic burden on the families.Materials and methodsA total of 232 patients who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study and were regularly followed up in the Department of Pediatric Metabolism with the diagnosis of Inborn Errors of Metabolism between April 2022 and July 2022 were included. Questionnaires were asked about the demographic characteristics of patients, use of health services, follow-up, treatment procedures, frequency of controls and health expenditures.ResultsThe average out-of-pocket expenditure of the households in the last month was 1039.22 ± 1030.08 (minimum: 20, maximum: 5000) Turkish Liras. When we consider the catastrophic health expenditure rate as expenditure exceeding 40% of household income, we found that 9.9% (23 people) of parents included in the study made catastrophic health expenditures. The rate of catastrophic expenditure of patients with a diagnosis of Amino Acid Metabolism Disorders was found to be higher than that of patients with a diagnosis of Vitamin and Cofactor Metabolism Disorders. Similarly, patients with a diagnosis of lysosomal storage diseases had more expenditures than patients with a diagnosis of vitamin and cofactor metabolism disorders. When we compared the rate of catastrophic health expenditure of the patients with urea cycle disorders and the patients with a diagnosis of vitamin and cofactor metabolism disorders, the former had more expenditure than the latter (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between other disease groups in terms of catastrophic expenditure. The rate of catastrophic expenditures of the households living as large family type were higher than the families living as nuclear family type (p < 0.01). A statistically significant difference was found between the rates of catastrophic expenditures of the families living in Ankara and those who were admitted from other provinces for follow-up and treatment (p < 0.001). However, there was no difference between the rates of catastrophic expenditure of the patients who received any treatment and those who were followed up without treatment (p > 0.05).ConclusionDue to the high rate of consanguineous marriages in our country, the development of newborn screening programs, the increase in awareness about metabolic diseases and the improvement in diagnostic methods, the frequency of metabolic diseases is increasing, and mortality and morbidity rates are significantly reduced with early diagnosis and treatment opportunities. It is necessary to carry out more comprehensive studies to determine and prevent the socioeconomic effects of out-of-pocket health expenditures of patients living with Inborn Errors of Metabolism.

A Cross-Sectional Study on Prevalence and Factors Associated with Caregiver Burden among Caregivers of Patients with Depressive Disorder

Abstract Introduction: Depression is a chronic debilitating illness that causes functional impairment significantly affecting physical, mental, and social well-being of the individual, further impacting lives of their relatives. Majority of studies done in the past were on caregivers of patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or chronic physical illnesses. Methods: We assessed caregiver burden in the caregivers of depressive disorder patients by using Montgomery Borgatta Caregiving Burden Scale. Results: The study population had significantly higher proportion of subjective stress burden (70%) whereas subjective demand burden and objective burden were seen in 22.5% and 37.5% of caregivers respectively. Younger age, female, spouses, and nuclear family type were significantly associated with the presence of caregiver burden. Conclusion: High prevalence of caregiver burden was observed in caregivers of depressive disorder patients, which could predispose caregivers to develop psychiatric comorbidities. Thus, early interventions and teaching them better coping strategies could help in the reduction of caregiver distress.

DECISION MAKING AUTONOMY AND HEALTH OF WOMEN IN REPRODUCTIVE AGE IN PAKISTAN

For all individuals, regardless of their age, ethnicity or other attributes, reproductive health rights are everyone’s right to make reproductive choices. Reproductive health privileges include the right to access RH related knowledge, insights and to encourage decisions along with the facilitation of reproductive health. The study focuses on the investigation of women’s sovereignty in decision-making regarding their reproductive health. The data was collected through in-depth interviews and focus groups discussion to seek detailed information. A hybrid technique was used to figure out and analyze the data collected from 42 study respondents between age 15-49 years. Results reveal that husband's reported 47.61percent authority of decision making while the role of mother-in-law is reducing as the culture of nuclear family type is increasing. Women also are in a position to engage in decision making process. Patriarchal social practices, and polygyny marriages reduce the decision-making authority of women especially for their maternal health. Study is also backs up by existing studies showing that educational qualification improves the decision-making power of women. According to the Reproductive and Healthcare Rights Act 2013 by national policy of Pakistan, women have a right to reproductive health care information. Keywords: Reproductive health, women of reproductive age, decision making, reproductive rights, autonomy.

Nuclear Family Type Identification Based on Deep Forest Algorithm in Residential Power Consumption

As the fertility rate declines, it becomes increasingly necessary for governments to guide power companies in introducing preferential tariffs to encourage nuclear families to have children. However, traditional household statistics for residential households are time-consuming and insufficient for enterprises seeking to adopt intelligent marketing schemes for different types of households. To address these issues, this paper proposes a nuclear family type identification method for residential electricity consumption based on a deep forest algorithm. The method first classifies nuclear households according to the number of children in them. Then, features are selected by combining the daily 48-point load and prior knowledge of nuclear families. The Pearson correlation coefficient and random forest importance ranking are used to remove features with low correlation and low importance. Additionally, features are classified based on their importance, and the number of features is balanced by stratified sampling to optimize the multi-granularity scan results and improve the model’s generalization. Finally, the improved cascade forest with feature input replacement base learner is trained, and the model is evaluated using accuracy evaluation metrics.The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model accurately recognizes the number of children in different nuclear families and can be used in power companies to improve lean management. The results show that the improved method is effective in improving recognition com-pared to the original deep forest method, with recognition accuracy 5.1% higher than the random forest method and 0.7% higher than the deep forest method, reaching 94%.

Foot Care Behavior Among People With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Overview and Sociodemographic Factors Impact

Foot care behavior is essential to prevent the risk of diabetic foot ulcers among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The sociodemographic predisposing factors had determined mainly behavior. The study aimed to analyze sociodemographic factors' effect on foot care behavior in people with T2DM. This study was an analytical observational study with a cross-sectional design. The sample size was 130 respondents, with multistage random sampling. The instruments used were a questionnaire. The results showed that most of the respondents were 56-65 years (45.38%), women (62.31%), married (86.15%), basic education (46.15%) and income level were less than the district minimum wage (56.92%), Madurese (54.62%), nuclear family type (46.15%), and had foot care behavior in the good category (71.54%). Income level was the sociodemographic factor significantly affecting foot care behavior (p=0.019). Respondents with low-income levels (less than regency minimum wage) showed poor foot care behavior. At the same time, other sociodemographic factors, such as age, gender, marital status, education level, ethnicity, and family type, did not affect foot care behavior (p-value &gt; α = 0.05). The higher the income level, the better the foot care behavior. Providing diabetes education to increase awareness of diabetic patients about foot care is essential to paying attention to sociodemographic conditions, especially income levels. Good foot care behavior can reduce the risk of diabetic foot ulcers, minimize morbidity, and improve the quality of life of people with T2DM.&#x0D;

Personal, Socio-economic Characteristics of Buffalo Owners of Peri-urban areas of Surat, Gujarat

A field survey was conducted in Peri-urban areas of Surat city of Gujarat to ascertain the personal, socio-economic characteristics of buffalo owners and data were collected from randomly selected 50 buffalo farm owners through personal interview with the help of pre-tested structured schedule. The study revealed that majority of the buffalo owners were belonged middle to old age group, literate, nuclear type of family having more number of children making big size family. All of the respondents were from other backward category having medium level of extension contacts and mass media exposure with membership in one organization. Majority of the respondents were falling under marginal to small categories farmers with small herd size and they possessed agriculture and livestock as their livelihood.

Consumer Awareness and Preference towards Instant Food Products in Tirupur City

The study aims to know the awareness level and consumer preference among Instant food product users in Tirupur city. Using convenient sampling method, 170 instant food product users were identified to collect primary data through issuing questionnaire. The secondary data collected from Journals, Magazines, online sources, etc., tools like simple percentage, chi-square, ANOVA were used to analyze the collected primary data. Findings conclude that majority of the respondents belong to below 25 years, unmarried, female having college level education and working as professionals, having 4-6 members with nuclear type of family are aware about instant food products and accept as worth spending for instant food products. Advertisement and family members influence to buy instant food products. Noodles variety is one of the main instant food products which the respondents are mostly aware of. Respondents mostly check the expiry and manufacturing date before purchasing the instant food products. Breakfast varieties are mostly preferred next to it beverages, noodles and health mixes are preferred and agree that consuming of instant food products had changed their food habits.

Examination of Safety Measures Against Home Accidents of Mothers with 1-6 Years Age Group Children Presenting to Emergency Service According to Some Variables

Bu araştırma; çocuk acil servisine başvuran 1-6 yaş grubu çocuğu olan annelerin, ev kazalarına yönelik güvenlik önlemlerinin bazı değişkenler açısından incelenmesi amacıyla yapıldı. Araştırma, çocuk acil servisine başvuran ve 1-6 yaş arası çocuğu olan 390 anne ile yürütüldü. Araştırmanın verileri, tanıtıcı bilgi formu ve “0-6 yaş grubu çocuklarda ev kazalarını önlemeye yönelik güvenlik önlemleri tanılama ölçeği” kullanılarak toplandı. Araştırmada annelerin yaş ortalamaları 31,73±5,88 yıl olup %40,5’inin üniversite mezunu olduğu saptandı. Çalışmadaki çocukların yaş ortalamalarının 3,61±1,59 yıl olduğu, bu çocukların %50,5’inin erkek çocuk olduğu belirlendi. Araştırmaya katılan çocukların %46,9’unun en az bir kez ev kazasına maruz kaldığı belirlendi. Çocukların en sık düşme/kayma (%51,3) ve yanma/haşlanma (%23,5) şeklindeki ev kazalarına maruz kaldıkları saptandı. Annelerin ev kazalarına yönelik güvenlik önlemlerini tanılama ölçeği puan ortalamalarının 178,39±14,99 olduğu belirlendi. Araştırmada 35 yaşın altında, üniversite mezunu, çalışan, gelir durumu iyi olan, çekirdek aile tipine sahip, ilde yaşayan ve tek çocuğa sahip olan annelerin ölçek puan ortalamalarının anlamlı olarak daha yüksek olduğu görüldü (p

Antenatal Care Utilization of Mothers in Selected Cities in Bicol Region: A Quantitative Study

Background. Antenatal Care (ANC) is an essential mandatory preventive care service freely given to pregnant women by the Philippine government. Despite the available ANC services in the country, not all pregnant women still avail of the service.Objective. The study determined the socio-demographic profile of mothers, their ANC services utilization, and the different problems encountered during their antenatal care.Methods. A descriptive research design was used. Purposive sampling was employed to identify the population of the study: women of reproductive age, 18-45 years old, and who had a live birth for the last three years regardless of utilization, partial utilization, or non-utilization of ANC services. Mothers who were currently pregnant and had a history of abortion or stillbirth delivery were excluded from participation. Proportionate sampling was computed to get the sample size: 334 mothers from Iriga City and 392 from Tabaco City. The survey questionnaire was based on the ANC guidelines of the DOH. The statistical treatment used was frequency counting, percentage, and ranking in data analysis.Results. The mothers in Iriga City and Tabaco City were ages 23-27 years old who had 1-3 children, were single but living with partners, and in a nuclear type of family with 4-6 members, were unemployed/housewives, and belonged to a low-income family with &gt;P7,890 family income. In Iriga City, the majority were high school graduates, while in Tabaco City, most were graduates of vocational courses; and elementary and high school undergraduates. There were excellent assessments for history-taking, physical examination, and care provisions in both cities, except for oral health care examination, tests for syphilis, stool examination, acetic acid wash, safe sex education, and oral health checkups and prophylaxis. The identified problems were financial constraints, lack of support system, busy taking care of the kids, sickness, forgetfulness, unwanted pregnancy, drunkard husband, difficult first trimester, bad attitude of midwives, nurses, doctors, and unequal treatment of poor patients.Conclusions. Mothers in both cities were young adults with a low education level who lived with their partners in a poor small nuclear family. Not all ANC services were excellently utilized. Among these were the poor utilization of the tests for syphilis, stool, acetic acid wash; oral health care examination; safe sex education; and oral health checkups and prophylaxis. There were various problems that mothers encountered when seeking ANC services, the most common of which were financial and personal issues.