Well-educated middle class women and their preference for traditional rather than skilled birth attendants in Lagos Nigeria a qualitative study

Description

Master of Public Health - MPH / Background:Theoutcomeofpregnanciesinmanyinstancesislargelypredicatedon
availabilityofSkilledBirthAttendants(SBAs).Despitethisphenomenon,illiteracyand
financialdisadvantagehavebeenvariouslycitedastwinfactorspromotingtheinterest
andpatronageofTraditionalBirthAttendants(TBAs)bywomenfolk.Itistherefore
expected thatwomenhavingtertiarylevelofeducationandpossessing adequate
economic resources would naturally prefer to use the SBAs.However,these
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observationshavenotsignificantlyreflected therealityin thechoiceofmaternal
healthcareprovidersinNigeriaandthecityofLagosinparticular.Yet,accessto
maternalservicesoftheSBAshasbeenwidelyacceptedasoneoftheleadingwaysof
loweringmaternalmortality.Therefore,inordertoimprovethepatronageofSBAsand
correspondinglylowermaternaldeathrates,itbecomesimperativetounderstandthe
rationalebehindthepreferencefortheTBAs’usebywomenwhoarenotordinarily
expectedtodosobyvirtueoftheirhighlevelofeducationandgoodfinancialcapacity.
Aim:Theaim ofthisstudywastoexploreandunderstandtheexperiences,perception
and beliefsystems influencing well-educated,middle income women and their
reasoningfortheuseofTraditionalBirthAttendantsratherthanSkilledBirthAttendants
fordeliveryservicesinLagos,Nigeria.
Methodology:ThisisaqualitativestudyconductedinAlimoshoLocalGovernmentArea
ofLagosinNigeria.Tenwomenwithtertiarylevelofeducationandbelongingtomiddle
incomeeconomiccategorieswereenrolledasparticipants.Inaddition,itinvolved3
FocusGroupDiscussionscomprising7TraditionalBirthAttendantspergroup.
Results:Behaviouraland attitudinalshortcomings by the SBAs;misconceptions
regardingsurgicaldeliverybywomen;bureaucraticdelaysandbottlenecksexperienced
attheSBAs’centres;thebeliefbythewomenthatpregnancyisasacredandspiritual
eventwhichonlytheTBAshaveabilitytomanage;women’sconfidenceintheTBAsas
havingbettercapacitytomanagecertaincoexistingmedicalconditionsinpregnancy;
andmisinformationonmanagementmodalitiesforcertainconditionslikeinfertilityand
fibroidallcombinetoinfluencepreferenceforutilizationofTBAsbywell-educated,
middleincomewomeninthestudyarea.

Links & Downloads

1. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/8442

Tags

Antenatal Clinic

National demographic health survey

University of the Western Cape

World Health Organization

Additional Fields

Identifer	oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/8442
Date	January 2021
Creators	Aderinwale, Adetayo Seun
Publisher	University of the Western Cape
Source Sets	South African National ETD Portal
Language	English
Detected Language	English
Rights	University of the Western Cape