Couples’ Opinion and Women’s Utilization of Postnatal Care Service in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A Community Based Mixed Study

Abstract

Postnatal period is the most neglected period though it is a critical phase in the lives of mothers and newborn babies. About 50 to 71 percent of maternal deaths occur during this period, particularly in the first few hours. Therefore, this study aimed to assess couples' opinion & women's utilization of postnatal care service in Wolaita zone, Southern Ethiopia, January 2016. A community based cross sectional study was employed using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. Study subjects were women aged between 15-49 years old who delivered within the past one year before data collection time in the selected districts of Wolaita zone. Multistage sampling technique was used to select study subjects for quantitative study and purposive sampling was used to select participants for qualitative study. A total of 790 sample size for quantitative data was allocated proportionally to the population size of randomly selected kebele and 24 in-depth interviews with key informants was conducted to supplement quantitative study. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed to assess independent predictors of postnatal care service utilization. In-depth interview was audio recorded, transcribed, translated and triangulated with quantitative findings. The prevalence of postnatal care service utilization in this study was 34.9%. This study showed that younger mothers, [AOR = 1.82, (95% CI = 1.23, 2.69)]; those mothers who followed antenatal care service in their last pregnancy, [AOR = 10.39, (95% CI = 4.99, 21.60)]; who delivered their last child in health facilities, [AOR = 2.66, (95% CI = 1.75, 4.03)]; who have good knowledge on postnatal care service utilization, [AOR = 7.25, (95% CI = 4.30,12.21)]; and whose couples' have good attitude towards postnatal care service utilization, [AOR = 1.76, (95% CI = 1.16, 2.69)] were more likely utilized postnatal care service than their counter parts. Postnatal care service utilization was low in the study area. Maternal age, maternal health service utilization (antenatal care service and institutional delivery), maternal knowledge and couples' attitude were major predictors for postnatal care service utilization in the study area. Concerned body should focus on the above issue to improve maternal and child health.

Determinants of health care decision making autonomy among mothers of children under five years in Ghana: analysis of 2014 Ghana demographic and health survey

“…This implies that educated partners tends to promote health decision making autonomy of women. This finding is consistent with the studies by Kamiya [32] and Facha et al [33] who reported positive association between husbands' education and women's health autonomy. Nevertheless, it is important to note that this association was limited to primary and secondary education of partners but not partners who doi: 10.7243/2054-9865-4-5 had higher than secondary education.…”

“…Thus, highly educated husbands were more likely to involve their wives in household decision making. This observation has been supported by other studies which have also reported a significant positive association between husband's educational status and women's autonomy in seeking health care services for themselves [25,33].…”

“…Thus, highly educated husbands were more likely to involve their wives in household decision making. This observation has been supported by other studies which have also reported a significant positive association between husband's educational status and women's autonomy in seeking health care services for themselves [25,33].Finally, women's control over earnings may also be an important determinant of health decision making autonomy. According to the basic principles of the gender stratification theory [34][35][36], economic autonomy of women will increase their access to other kinds of power including sexual and reproductive health.…”

Postnatal Care Service Utilization and Associated Factors among Mothers Who Delivered in Shebe Sombo Woreda, Jimma Zone, Ethiopia

“…Young mothers more likely utilize postnatal care service than older one. This finding is supported by local studies conducted in Wolayitta Zone, SNNPR [11], and in addition it is similar with a study conducted in Pakistan [16], from a review on African country [17]. This can be justified younger mothers are more likely to have greater exposure and more access to education.…”

“…The findings of this study showed that among 544 postpartum women, 318 (58.5%) obtained PNC during the first 6 weeks following delivery. This result is high compared with studies done in different areas (Arsi zone, Oromiya (23.4%) [9], Debra markos Town, Amhara (33.5%) [8], Halaba Kulito, SNNPR (47.9%) [10], Wolayitta, SNNPR (34.31%) [11], North Eastern Nigeria (16.9%) [12] and Nepal (43.2%) [13]. This may be attributed to the time difference that there could be improvement in accessing and utilizing health care service through time and other factors could be attributed to place, and social context variation between this study and previous studies.…”