Magnitude and associated factors of postnatal care service utilization among postpartum mothers in Banke district, Nepal

Background: Postnatal care is a care provided to postpartum mothers after the delivery of child for at least 42 days. Postnatal care services play an important role in improving maternal and newborn health and prevent long- term complications. Objectives: The study aimed to assess the utilization of postnatal care services among postpartum mothers in Janaki rural municipality of Banke district.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 203 postpartum mothers who had children less than 12 months. Proportionate stratified random sampling method was used to reach the sample. Interview schedule as structured questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS v.16. Descriptive statistics was computed to describe socio-demographic profile of participants and factors related to postnatal care utilization. Univariate logistic regression analysis was done to identify the most independent factors related postnatal care utilization. Result: A total of 203 postpartum mothers who had child less than 12 months were enrolled in the study. The prevalence of the low postnatal service utilization was 82%. The mean age with standard deviation of the respondents was 24.55+ 3.95. There was no statistical association between postnatal care utilization and sociodemographic variables. No health service received after delivery (p<0.001) was found statistically significant with low utilization of postnatal care services. Conclusion: The study concluded that low utilization of the postnatal care services was high. Providing awareness on importance of postnatal care services during antenatal care visit and increasing the availability and accessibility of health care to postnatal women is crucial. Strengthening the health services and empowering the mother’s groups to increase postnatal care services is a key intervention to increase services.