Reproductive health care seeking behavior in Bangladesh: A systematic literature review

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundMaternal health, in terms of pregnancy and childbirth, is an important aspect of women's reproductive health and remains a public health concern in underdeveloped countries of the world. Reproductive health care seeking behavior (RHSB), in both men and women in society, is influenced by a variety of social and environmental factors that needs to be summarized.ObjectivesThis review aims to enhance understanding and perception of services in relation to RHSBs in several domains such as antenatal care (ANC), delivery care, postnatal care (PNC), and family planning (FP) services, for married women of reproductive age in Bangladesh.Search StrategyIn major databases, for example, Medline, Ovid, PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest and Google Scholar following keywords, timeline set as 2010 up to December 30, 2022.Selection CriteriaArticles that included discussion on married women of reproductive age, and their type of care seeking behavior for reproductive health.Data Collection and AnalysisA systematic literature search was carried out and expected outcome was health care seeking behavior in the aspects of ANC, delivery care, PNC, and FP services. A data extraction form and quality appraisal form were used for data on RHSB of married women of the reproductive age group in Bangladesh and associated factors.Main ResultsA total of 245 articles were retrieved from databases; stepwise screening was done and finally 23 full‐text articles were included for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used based on the included articles for narrative synthesis. In the selected articles, 17 (73.91%) were cross‐sectional studies and more than half discussed both urban and rural women. Ante‐ and postnatal visits have proven to have positively influenced overall RHSB, as seen in Bangladesh. Grass root level workers play a major role in upgrading RHSB in women. Many factors limit rural access to mother and child health services including distance of the health facility and cost of the health service.ConclusionsIn particular, education level, women's autonomy in family decision making and distance from health service can be considered as factors influencing RHSBs in Bangladesh. Exposure to mass media and TV watching are likely to positively impact RHSB patterns for women in Bangladesh.