Health Seeking Behaviour of Pregnant Women in South East of Nigeria: Implication for Improved Natal and Postnatal Care

Abstract

This study examined the choice of place of care by expectant mothers in a Local Government in Anambra State and factors that influence such choices in order to identify factors that militate against health -seeking behavior among the group and proffer solution. The study population was 82 pregnant women in a Primary Health Center in the State. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in the selection of the respondents. Three research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was structured questionnaire. Face and content validity of tool was ascertained by Experts while correlation coefficient of 0.83 was established through a pilot study. Demographic information was also obtained for the study. With SPSS version 20, descriptive analysis was done to answer the research questions while Chi-square test was adopted in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that the choice of place of care had significant correlation with level of education (r = 0.306, p0.05) and income (r = 0.207, p >0.05) of the respondents. This calls for free education programme for women by the Government to boost educational level among the group as well as organized programme for adolescent girls on the importance of health - seeking behavior in pregnancy.