SORA

Advancing, promoting and sharing knowledge of health through excellence in teaching, clinical practice and research into the prevention and treatment of illness

Determinants of health care seeking behaviour during pregnancy in Ogun State, Nigeria.

Akeju, DO; Oladapo, OT; Vidler, M; Akinmade, AA; Sawchuck, D; Qureshi, R; Solarin, M; Adetoro, OO; von Dadelszen, P; CLIP Nigeria Feasibility Working Group (2016) Determinants of health care seeking behaviour during pregnancy in Ogun State, Nigeria. Reproductive Health, 13 Suppl 1. p. 32. ISSN 1742-4755 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-016-0139-7
SGUL Authors: von Dadelszen, Peter

[img]
Preview
PDF Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (774kB) | Preview

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In Nigeria, women too often suffer the consequences of serious obstetric complications that may lead to death. Delay in seeking care (phase I delay) is a recognized contributor to adverse pregnancy outcomes. This qualitative study aimed to describe the health care seeking practices in pregnancy, as well as the socio-cultural factors that influence these actions. METHODS: The study was conducted in Ogun State, in south-western Nigeria. Data were collected through focus group discussions with pregnant women, recently pregnant mothers, male decision-makers, opinion leaders, traditional birth attendants, health workers, and health administrators. A thematic analysis approach was used with QSR NVivo version 10. RESULTS: Findings show that women utilized multiple care givers during pregnancy, with a preference for traditional providers. There was a strong sense of trust in traditional medicine, particularly that provided by traditional birth attendants who are long-term residents in the community. The patriarchal c influenced health-seeking behaviour in pregnancy. Economic factors contributed to the delay in access to appropriate services. There was a consistent concern regarding the cost barrier in accessing health services. The challenges of accessing services were well recognised and these were greater when referral was to a higher level of care which in most cases attracted unaffordable costs. CONCLUSION: While the high cost of care is a deterrent to health seeking behaviour, the cost of death of a woman or a child to the family and community is immeasurable. The use of innovative mechanisms for health care financing may be beneficial for women in these communities to reduce the barrier of high cost services. To reduce maternal deaths all stakeholders must be engaged in the process including policy makers, opinion leaders, health care consumers and providers. Underlying socio-cultural factors, such as structure of patriarchy, must also be addressed to sustainably improve maternal health. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01911494.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2016 Akeju et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Keywords: Health care, Pregnancy complications, CLIP Nigeria Feasibility Working Group, Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine, 1114 Paediatrics And Reproductive Medicine
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Molecular and Clinical Sciences Research Institute (MCS)
Journal or Publication Title: Reproductive Health
ISSN: 1742-4755
Language: ENG
Dates:
DateEvent
8 June 2016Published
17 February 2016Accepted
Publisher License: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Projects:
Project IDFunderFunder ID
UNSPECIFIEDBill and Melinda Gates Foundationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000865
PubMed ID: 27356754
Go to PubMed abstract
URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/108352
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-016-0139-7

Actions (login required)

Edit Item Edit Item