Affecting Factors on Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization Index

Background: The adequacy of prenatal care can play an important role in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. various factors can affect the receipt of prenatal care and, ultimately, its adequacy. To assess the quantitative adequacy of prenatal care, various indicators are often used. Kotelchuck proposed the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization Index (APNCU). This research assessed the adequacy of prenatal care and determined the factors affecting it in Shiraz, Iran Methods: The research population comprised 413 women who referred to Shiraz Medical Sciences Hospitals, Iran. Sampling was carried out daily and randomly in three educational hospitals based on the number of people referring to these centers from November 2017 to February 2018. Data was collected from information available in the patients’ prenatal care andmaternity records. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and the chi-square test were used to analyze the data. Results: The results of this research showed 94.4% of pregnant women received prenatal care for the first time in the first four months of pregnancy, there was a significant relationship between adequacy of prenatal care and sector of prenatal care (p=0.003). There was also a significant relationship between adequacy of prenatal care and pregnancy intention status from both the women’s (p=0.004) and their husbands’ (p<0.001) perspectives. Conclusion: Making the decision to use prenatal health services is a complicated process affected by individual, family, and health system factors. Therefore, it is important that prenatal care providers pay attention to factors affecting the receipt of such care

Keywords:

Adequacy of prenatal care utilization index , Prenatal care , Pregnant women , Iran