UTILIZATION OF EMERGENCY OBSTETRIC CARE SERVICES AMONG CHILDBEARING MOTHERS IN NSUKKA HEALTH DISTRICT, ENUGU STATE by Tochi Emmanuel Iwuagwu, Nkolika Otuosoluchi Agu & Olaoluwa Samson Agbaje

UTILIZATION OF EMERGENCY OBSTETRIC CARE SERVICES AMONG CHILDBEARING MOTHERS IN NSUKKA HEALTH DISTRICT,

ENUGU STATE

 

Tochi Emmanuel Iwuagwu,  Nkolika Otuosoluchi Agu &

Olaoluwa Samson Agbaje3

Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education

University of Nigeria, Nsukka

 

Abstract

This study was embarked upon to find out utilization of emergency obstetric care among childbearing mothers in Nsukka health district, Enugu State. Three specific objectives with three corresponding research questions, and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted the cross-sectional survey research design. The study population comprised of 3,682 childbearing mothers in Nsukka health district, Enugu State.  The multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select 372 childbearing mothers used for the study. Researchers’-designed Extent of Utilization of Emergency Obstetric Care Questionnaire (EUEmOCQ) was used for data collection. Cronbach’s alpha was used to establish the reliability coefficient of the study instrument. Means and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions while t-test and ANOVA statistics were used to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Results among others indicated that emergency obstetric care services were lowly utilized by childbearing mothers (   = 1.78, SD = .648). Emergency obstetric care services were lowly utilized by childbearing mothers in urban and rural areas (   = 1.90;   = 1.77) respectively. Childbearing mothers of different age groups lowly utilized emergency obstetric care services (15 -30, = 1.83 > 45years or above, = 1.77 > 31 – 44years, = 1.73). There was significant difference in the mean extent of utilization of emergency obstetric care services among childbearing mothers based on location while there was no significant difference based on age. The study recommended among others that there should be implementation of skill-based training approaches supported by regular clinical supervision for obstetric cases. Also, training content should be centred on active treatment of the third phase of labour and on interpersonal communication with the patient.

 

Keywords:  Utilization, Emergency Obstetric Care, Safe Motherhood, Childbearing Mothers.