Newborn Care Service Utilization and Associated Factors among Women who gave birth in Kore District, West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia, 2022. A mixed method study

Abstract

Abstract Background: Community-based newborn care is a national initiative that brings life-saving care to mothers and newborns in Ethiopian communities by integrating a newborn care program into the continuum of maternal and child health care by improving community participation to reduce child morbidity and mortality, and it promotes healthy growth and development. Objective:To assess newborn care service utilization and associated factors among women who gave birth in Kore District, West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia 2022. Methods:A community-based cross-sectional study design supplemented with a qualitative study approach was implemented from January 02 to February 10, 2022, with a total sample size of 560. Data collection was done by using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire using simple random sampling techniques to select mothers with their neonates from the selected kebeles. For qualitative findings, a focus group discussion guide was used to supplement the quantitative findings. Data were entered into Epi-info version 7.2 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to declare the statistical significance of the variables with community-based newborn care services utilization with an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval at p-value ≤ 0.05. Result:In this study, the prevalence of community-based newborn care service utilization among women who gave birth was 45.3 % with a 95% CI of (41.2, 49.6). The mean age of the participants was 29.32 (±6 SD) years and their age ranged from 18 to 61 years. Of all assessed factors;knowledge of community-based newborn care service (AOR= 2.16, 95% CI: 1.34-3.51), attended PNC follow-up (AOR=3.27, 95% CI: 1.67-1.72), closed health post (AOR= 0.50, 95% CI: 0.31-0.82) and distance from a health facility (AOR= 2.63, 95% CI: 1.09-5.44) were significantly associated with community-based newborn care service utilization. The qualitative finding revealed that; having sufficient knowledge about community-based newborn care, closed health posts; cultural beliefs, and the distance from health facilities were the key factors for community-based newborn care service utilization. Conclusion:The study revealed that, community-based newborn care service utilization was low, which is only 45.3% of participants utilized community-based newborn care services. The study identified that having knowledge of community-based newborn care service, attended PNC follow-up, closed health posts and less distance from health facilities were significantly associated with community-based newborn care service utilization. Thus, the district health office and concerned stakeholders should work on community-based newborn care service utilization by strengthening child care service delivery and improving community awareness of newborn care service at the community level.