Original Research Article
Year: 2022 | Month: November | Volume: 12 | Issue: 11 | Pages: 190-198
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20221124
Role of Social Network Structures on Birth Attendant Decisions Among Women in Nakuru County, Kenya
Mungai Mwangi1, Dr. Mary Gitahi2, Dr. George Evans Owino3
1Research Manager, Innovations for Poverty Action, Kenya, Address: P.O. Box 72427 - 00200 Nairobi, Kenya
2Lecturer, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Kenyatta University, Kenya, P.O. BOX 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
3Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Gender Development and Studies, Kenyatta University, Kenya, P.O. BOX 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
Corresponding Author: Mungai Mwangi
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Three-fourths of maternal deaths occur from direct obstetric complications. These life-threatening pregnancy-related outcomes are avoidable through ensuring that mothers have access to adequate and proper maternal health services and prompt management of any complications during pregnancy or childbirth process. This study examined the relationship between social network structures and birth attendant decisions among women in Nakuru County, Kenya.
Methods: The study applied a mixed-method approach that employs a convergent parallel design. Interviewer administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data among women of birth giving age and community health workers (CHWs) respectively. Chi-square tests for independence were used to assess whether the dependent variable and categorical independent variables are independent at p< 0.05 significance levels. Binomial logistic regression technique was employed to identify variables that are likely to be essential predictors for the dependent variable. Qualitative data from in-depth interviews with key informants was analyzed through content analysis using NVivo 10.
Results: About 55% of the women were embedded in homogeneous networks, 76% had high Skilled Birth Attendants (SBA) endorsement networks, and the average number of social networks was 2.4 (SD=1.1, median = 2). There was no significant relationship between social network size and birth attendant decision (χ2(2), p=.072). There was, however, a significant relationship between social network content and birth attendant decision (χ2(1)=55.604, p< 0.001). Social network homogeneity was also strongly related to birth attendant choice (χ2(1)=21.152, p<0.001). Women embedded in social networks with high SBA endorsement had 5.28 higher odds of giving birth in a health facility than their counterparts embedded in low SBA endorsement. Those embedded in a homogeneous network had a 70% reduction in odds of facility delivery.
Conclusion: According to the study findings, social networks can either facilitate or constrain facility utilization during birth, and thus health education and mother mobilization interventions promoting facility birth should leverage on the role of social networks.
Key words: social networks, mixed methods, birth attendant decisions, skilled birth attendants