Understanding the association of mass media with the timing of antenatal care in Ethiopia: an impression from the 2016 Ethiopia demographic and health survey

Abstract

Introduction

Although the timing of antenatal care has a high potential of reducing maternal and child health problems and can be improved through different mass media exposure, it has been overlooked and remained a major life-costing delinquent issue. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the relationship between mass media exposure and ANC for further insight.

Methods

We used the 2016 Ethiopian Health and Demography (EDHS) data. EDHS is a community-based cross-sectional survey that applies a two-stage stratified cluster sampling and it is a country-representative. We included 4740 reproductive-age women with complete records in EDHS dataset in this study. We excluded records with missing data from the analysis. We used ordinal logistic regression followed by generalized ordinal logistic to examine mass media relationships with timely antenatal care (ANC). We presented data using numbers, mean, standard deviations, percent or proportions, coefficient of regression, and 95% confidence interval. All analyses were performed using STATA version 15.

Result

We examined the data of 4740 participants for the history of timely initiation of ANC and found 32.69% (95% CI = 31.34, 34.03) timely ANC. Factors such as watching television (TV) less than once a week [coef. = −0.72, CI: −1.04, −0.38], watching TV at least once a week [coef. = −0.60, CI: −0.84, −0.36], listening to radio [coef. = −0.38, CI: −0.84, −0.25], and use internet every day[coef. = −1.37, CI: −2.65, −0.09], are associated with the timely ANC.

Conclusion

Despite its association with improving the timing of ANC, our findings showed mothers need additional support on the use of the media and the timing of ANC. In addition to the mass media, other covariates such as educational status, family size, and husband’s desire affected the timely ANC imitation. These need attention during implementation to avert the current. This is also an essential input for policy and decision-makers.

Keywords:

• Antenatal care
• timing of antenatal care
• factors
• Ethiopia

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Measure DHS, ICF International Rockville, Maryland, USA for allowing us to use the 2016 EDHS data.

Ethical approval

This study used secondary data from demographic and health survey data files. Initially, the MEASURE DHS team was formally requested to access the datasets by completing the online request form on their website (www.dhsprogram.com). Accordingly, permission to access the data and the letter of authorization was obtained from ICF international. Therefore, for this study consent to participate is not applicable. We kept all data confidential, and no effort was made to identify households or individuals. The Ethiopian Health Nutrition and Research Institute Review Board (EHNR-IRB) and the National Research Ethics Review Committee (NRERC) at the Ministry of Science and Technology of Ethiopia, approved EDHS 2016. The authors also confirm that all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

Authors contribution

GG has analyzed the EDHS data while, GG, SH, SS, & BT were equally involved in the conception of the study, interpreted the results, drafted and critically revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The survey dataset used in this analysis is the third party data from the demographic and health survey website (www.dhsprogram.com) and permission to access the data is granted only for registered DHS data user.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.