Evaluating lay perceptions of maternal mortality to improve risk communication: a case study in Rivers State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Maternal mortality is one of the major challenges in reproductive health in Nigeria. Approximately two-thirds of the women (three quarters in rural Nigeria) deliver their babies outside of health facilities and without medically skilled birth attendants. Communication and education are vital since so many births take place outside formal health care environments, and the high mortality rate suggests there is potential for progress, which can supplement Nigerian government efforts. The purpose of the study was to elicit lay knowledge and interpretations about the major components of the problem as part of a wider mental models study aimed at improving risk communication. These knowledge and perceptions were elicited through semi-structured interviews with women of childbearing age (15–49 years). Interviews were analysed to evaluate common themes that will be used to model lay perceptions for comparison to the expert mental model as part of the wider method. The emergent themes will be presented and discussed in the context of the identification of important gaps in knowledge and misperceptions that have the potential for development of improved risk communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication
• mental models
• maternal mortality
• perception

Acknowledgements

We thank all the participants in this study, as this paper would not have been possible without their input. Many thanks also to the reviewers for helping us produce a quality paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The terms ‘skilled birth attendants’ and ‘nurses’ as utilised in this paper refer to health care workers who have been medically trained and government approved to assist in the process of pregnancy and childbirth.

2 The terms ‘native midwives’ and ‘spiritualists’ as utilised in this paper refer to individuals who are not medically trained and government approved to assist in the process of pregnancy and childbirth.

3 Witches and wizards: Interviewees referred to these as evil forces capable of inflicting pain and causing death, a relatively common usage in Nigerian Christianity.

4 Pharaohs: a bad character likened to the Pharaoh in the Old Testament that held the Israelites captive (Book of Exodus).