Availability and Utilization of Maternal Health Care Services among Women in Selected Rural Communities in South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Pregnant mothers are at risk of several life-threatening complications. Maternal health care services are provided for early detection and prevention of these complications. This study was aimed at investigating the availability and utilization of maternal health care services among women of child bearing age in some rural communities in south-south Nigeria. The cross-sectional descriptive survey design was adopted for this study, that lasted for 4 months, between February and June, 2024. Five research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The sample size of 1,794 women was used for the study. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used for the study. A 20-item self-structured questionnaire was used for the study. The questionnaire consisted of sections A and B. Section A, sought data on personal data while, section B is for the study variables. The face and content validity of the instrument was established by three health education experts. The valid questionnaire was tested for reliability using Cronbach Alpha and a reliability coefficient of 0.84 established, making the instrument reliable to elicit the required data. The data collected were analyzed and presented in tables with mean and standard deviation. The three hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics tools at 0.05 level of significance. From the study results, it was concluded that maternal health care services availability was low and the level of utilization was moderate. Occupation, educational status, and marital status had influence on the utilization of maternal health care services. Based on the conclusion it was recommended among others that, a policy framework be established by government at all levels that will enable rural women access maternal health services when needed.