Factors Determining Attendance of Pregnant Women to Antenatal Care Clinic before Twelve Weeks of Gestation Age with the Focus of Bahi District Council, Dodoma.

Nkinda, Ziada (2024) Factors Determining Attendance of Pregnant Women to Antenatal Care Clinic before Twelve Weeks of Gestation Age with the Focus of Bahi District Council, Dodoma. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the factors determining attendance of pregnant women to antenatal care clinic before twelve weeks of gestation age with the focus of Bahi District Council (BDC), Dodoma. The study specifically intended to examine factors associated with attendance of pregnant women to antenatal care clinic before twelve weeks of gestation age, to assess community awareness on the benefits of pregnant women to attend antenatal care before twelve weeks of gestation age and to determine the role of the community health workers on influencing pregnant mother attending antenatal care before twelve weeks of gestation age. The study employed mixed research approach with the support of cross-sectional research design. It basically involved 182 respondents (pregnant women, community members, nurses, midwives). Data were collected through questionnaire, interviews and documentary reviews. Collected data were analysed qualitatively by support of content analysis and also quantitatively which involved deductive and objectivity procedures and its data analyzed through software program SPSS version 25.0. The study revealed that, distance to nearest health facility, attitude of the health workers; socio-cultural belief and poor support from men were the major factors that contributed to low attendance of pregnant women to ANC clinic before twelve weeks of gestation age in Bahi DC. Then the study concludes that pregnant women who attend ANC are more likely to deliver in the health facility than those who do not. It is also recommended that the government, Bahi District Council and other health stakeholders have to ensure conducive environment for ANC and replacement of social workers in health facility for education, counselling, community awareness assessment for exemption service in order to provide quality services for pregnant women. Keywords: Antenatal Care, Pregnant Mother, Gestation Age and Still Birth

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