Determinants of Utilization of Antenatal Health Care Services among Pregnant Women in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

Low antenatal health care attendance was reported in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa.  In most of these countries antenatal coverage was very low and a significant proportion of pregnant women received no care at all.  It is against this background that the study investigated the determinants of utilization of antenatal health care services among pregnant women in Ekiti State, Nigeria.  The study was a descriptive research design. A total of 561 pregnant women were randomly sampled from rural and urban health care centres using multi-stage sampling techniques. Data were collected with the use of a validated questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.74. The data collected were analyzed using the descriptive statistics of frequency counts,simple percentages and inferential statistics of t-test and Multiple Regression. The findings of the study revealed that availability of health resources, knowledge of antenatal care services, attitudes of health workers and religion were the most factors that determined the utilization of antenatal health care services among the respondents. The level of utilization of antenatal health care services by the respondents was moderate.  Also, the findings revealed that demographic variables such as age, birth order of foetus, religion and academic qualification significantly contributed to the utilization of antenatal health care services among the respondents. Academic qualification (B=0.94; p< 0.05) was the best single predictor of the utilization of antenatal health care services by the respondents. Based on the findings of the study, Ekiti State Government should embark on enlightenment campaign towards effective utilization of antenatal health care services.

Keywords: Utilization, Antenatal, Maternal, Birth Order, Religion