THE IMPACT OF HEALTH EDUCATION ON THE UTILIZATION OF HEALTHCARE FACILITIES AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN DURING DELIVERY IN CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Every day, women in low-income countries lose their lives to pregnancy and childbirth that involve potential complications; most fatalities were avoidable. In Nigeria, the unfortunate odds of a woman passing away during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum are 1 in 22, which is significantly higher than the odds in most developed countries, where it's only 1 in 4900. During delivery, pregnant women need to use health facilities where skilled birth attendants can handle any potential obstetric and newborn complications that may arise. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of health education on the utilization of healthcare facilities by pregnant women during delivery in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study followed a quasi-experimental design and included pregnant women aged between 15 and 45 years from all senatorial districts. A sample of 60 pregnant women in their third trimester was examined; 30 each for health education and control group and a validated semi-structured questionnaire, with a Cronbach’s Alpha internal consistency range of 0.76 to 0.81, was administered at baseline, immediate post-intervention after 4 weeks, and during the 8^th-week follow-up period. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data with a significance level of 5%. The study showed that the average age of the participants was 21.53±6.07 years. The practice of the utilisation of health facilities during delivery among pregnant women’s mean score increased significantly between the baseline and follow-up from 1.13±1.62; p = 0.000. In conclusion, the health education intervention effectively improved the utilization of Health facilities during delivery among pregnant women. The study recommended that health education strategies should be utilized to promote positive change in the practice of health facilities utilisation among pregnant women