Khadija Saif Al Amri
Directorate of Nursing, Dakhiliya Governorate, Oman
Title: Factors associated with late utilization of antenatal care services among mothers attended primary health care clinics, Dakhiliya Governorate, Oman
Biography
Biography: Khadija Saif Al Amri
Abstract
Objective: Early antenatal registration is one of the main missions the Ministry of Health in Oman is working hard to achieve it. Despite the availability of services, there are still many women not registering their pregnancies during the advisable period. The study was targeted to explore these factors from pregnant women perspective. Method:A cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in the biggest four Primary Health Care antenatal clinics in a Dakhiliya Governorate. A total of 276 completed questionnaires were obtained from pregnant mothers using convenience sampling with a response rate of 92%. Results: Majority of the study participants were between 26 and 30 (32.7%) years, have high secondary school were 148 (53.6%) and 221 (82.2%) were not employed. Around 152 (57.6%) registered before the second trimester. On the reasons for late registration, (41.3%) stated that they 'visited private health institutions', equal response of (26.6 %) for two reasons affected early registration were; 'didn't have any complications' and 'felt unwell at the early pregnancy'. Interestingly, 57.4% claimed that trust in the governmental antenatal care was the reason why they prefer to follow in MoH health institutions and around 42.1% have trust in the health care providers. Another interesting finding was 90.9% of participants know that antenatal services is preventive and only 9.1% said its curative. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, good numbers of women booked at the first trimester of pregnancy and have an overall excellent perception about the importance of antenatal care. Further awareness and education is required to reduce the number of late antenatal booking.