AN EXPLORATION OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE EARLY PRENATAL CARE ENROLLMENT AND COMPLIANCE BEHAVIOR AMONG RURAL MALAWIAN PREGNANT WOMEN (MALAWI).
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 221
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Inadequate prenatal care was identified as one of the factors that contribute to high maternal mortality in Malawi. The inadequacy has been associated with late utilization of prenatal care services; the purpose of study was therefore to explore the factors that influence the timing of prenatal care among Malawian women. The health belief model guided the selection of variables for the study and a cross sectional design was used.

The study was conducted in fifteen government, and three church-affiliate rural health centers. Fifty-one primiparous, sixty-five multiparous, and fifty-two grandmultiparous women aged 15 to 44 years were purposively selected for the study. The hypotheses that were tested in the study were: demographic characteristics and health beliefs will predict weeks gestation at the first prenatal care visit, among rural Malawian pregnant women, demographic characteristics and health beliefs will predict compliance behavior among rural Malawian pregnant women, and there will be significant differences in the demographic characteristics, health beliefs, compliance behavior, and weeks gestation at the first prenatal care visit in primiparous, multiparous, and grandmultiparous women. Health belief variables and demographic characteristics were the predictors while weeks gestation, and compliance behavior were the outcome variables.

Pregnancy Health Belief Scale was utilized to measure the subjects' health beliefs related to perceived susceptibility to pregnancy risks, seriousness of pregnancy risks, benefits of prenatal care, barriers associated with early prenatal care enrollment, general health motivation, and perceived self-efficacy, demographic data, obstetric/medical history and prenatal care behavior. Multiple regression and canonical correlation were utilized to test Hypotheses One and Two, while multivariate analysis of variance, and discriminant function analysis were utilized to test Hypothesis Three. All hypotheses were supported by the data. Best predictors of weeks gestation at the first prenatal care visit were size of the fetus, distance to the health center, expected frequency and number of subsequent visits, and lack of knowledge on the appropriate timing of prenatal care; while non compliance behavior was best predicted by the subjects' physical health. The three groups of women differed significantly on age, number of support persons, advice given during prenatal care, and perceived susceptibility to pregnancy risks.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-02, Section: B, page: 0746.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1993.

School code: 0043.