Barriers to Antenatal Care Use, Child Birth Experience and Level of Education on Actual Attendance among Pregnant Women

Abstract

Despite the wide spread awareness regarding the need to improve maternal health, maternal mortality remains a great concern in Nigeria. Consequently, the importance of medical attention required in the care of pregnant women cannot be over emphasised. This study investigates the influence of barriers to attending antenatal care among pregnant women in Ibadan. Using a survey method, a total of 114 pregnant women were purposively selected from Akinyele Local Government Area of Ibadan.Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t- test and one way analysis of variance at 0.05 level of significance. Three hypotheses were tested. Results revealed that pregnant women who had more barriers (N = 54, mean = 4.5) were less likely to attend antenatal care than women who had fewer barriers (N = 60, mean = 5.6). Pregnant women who had no children (nulliparous) attended antenatal care more than pregnant women who have had at least one child (multiparous) (t (112) = 1.2 p< 0.05).Thus, barriers should be reduced by making antenatal care mobile and health care givers should be re- trained to develop more positive attitude towards better service delivery especially to pregnant women during antenatal period.