Abstract:
Background: Poor maternal health literacy is mothers' inability to access, comprehend, evaluate, and apply health information on maternal and child healthcare during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.It is linked to poor health outcomes in both women and children, particularly in low-income countries like Ethiopia. There are currently few studies in the country reporting on maternal health literacy and its intervention.
Objective:To assess maternal health literacy and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care at public Health Facilities in Ambo Town, West Shoa, Ethiopia, 2022.
Method: Institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 458 pregnant mothers who visited all public health facilities for antenatal care in Ambo town from 1st to 30th September, 2022.Systematic random sampling technique was used. Data were collected using a pretested structured interview administered questionnaire and entered into the statistical software Epi-data version 4.6 before being exported to SPSS version 26 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed. The association between independent variables and maternal health literacy was checked using bivariable binary logistic regression analysis.Variables that were significantly associated with outcome variable (at p-value < 0.25 in the bivariable binary logistic regression analysis) were retained for subsequent multivariable binary logistic regression analysis to control for potential confounders. The direction and strength of the statistical association were determined using an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval. The Hosmer and Lemeshow test was used to determine model fitness. Statistical significance was determined at p-value < 0.05.The findings were described using frequencies and proportions.
Results: Among 458 a total of 443 study participants took part in the study making the response rate of 96.7%.The mean age of the participants was 28.7(±3.2) years and magnitude of maternal health literacy in the study area was 25.5 (95% CI: 21.9 – 29.3). Factors contributing to maternal health literacy in this study were participants‟ age at first pregnancy (AOR=4.2;95% CI:1.1,13.2), participants who received PNC (AOR=2.7;95% CI:1.2,6.4),pregnant women who did attend primary education (AOR=0.3;95% CI:0.1,0.7), and traveling time to health facility(AOR =0.06; 95% CI :0.18,0.49).
Conclusion and recommendation: In the current study, the majority of pregnant women had low maternal health literacy.It was more common among women with a lower level of education, who were older at the time of their first pregnancy, who travelled more than 30 minutes to a health facility, and who did not receive postnatal care. Pregnant women should therefore be encouraged to attend adequate ANC and PNC contacts.
