Factors influencing patronage of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) among pregnant women attending TBAs centres in Epe, Lagos, Nigeria (Published)
The choice of birthplace has significant impacts on birth outcomes. The study assessed the influence of socio-demographic attributes of pregnant women on patronage of TBAs among pregnant women attending TBA centres in Epe local government area, Lagos, Nigeria.One hundred and sixty four pregnant women were selected through simple random sampling. Questionnaire with reliability index of 0.81 was used as an instrument for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and presented in tables.The study established that factors such as cheap services, caring nature of TBAs, desire for privacy, family involvement with care, faith based reasons, untoward attitude of healthcare workers and a favorable previous experience all contribute to respondents’ decision to patronize the TBA centers. A significant relationship was found to exist between respondents’ socio demographics variables (age (P=0.000), educational status (p=0.006), economic status (p=0.000), religion ( p=0.000)) and patronage of TBA centers. It is therefore recommended TBAs should be integrated into primary health care and their practices supervised, health practitioners should be more caring, government should strive harder at making maternity care free or at a subsidized to all pregnant women irrespective of their religion, age or economic status and religious centres charging with the responsibility of encouraging their members to patronize skilled attendants before and during childbirth
Keywords: Factors, Patronage, Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs)., influencing