Couples’ Opinion and Women’s Utilization of Postnatal Care Service in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A Community Based Mixed Study

Postnatal period is the most neglected period though it is a critical phase in the lives of mothers and newborn babies. About 50 to 71 percent of maternal deaths occur during this period, particularly in the first few hours. Therefore, this study aimed to assess couples’ opinion & women’s utilization of postnatal care service in Wolaita zone, Southern Ethiopia, January 2016. A community based cross sectional study was employed using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. Study subjects were women aged between 15-49 years old who delivered within the past one year before data collection time in the selected districts of Wolaita zone. Multistage sampling technique was used to select study subjects for quantitative study and purposive sampling was used to select participants for qualitative study. A total of 790 sample size for quantitative data was allocated proportionally to the population size of randomly selected kebele and 24 in-depth interviews with key informants was conducted to supplement quantitative study. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed to assess independent predictors of postnatal care service utilization. In-depth interview was audio recorded, transcribed, translated and triangulated with quantitative findings. The prevalence of postnatal care service utilization in this study was 34.9%. This study showed that younger mothers, [AOR = 1.82, (95% CI = 1.23, 2.69)]; those mothers who followed antenatal care service in their last pregnancy, [AOR = 10.39, (95% CI = 4.99, 21.60)]; who delivered their last child in health facilities, [AOR = 2.66, (95% CI = 1.75, 4.03)]; who have good knowledge on postnatal care service utilization, [AOR = 7.25, (95% CI = 4.30, 12.21)]; and whose couples’ have good attitude towards postnatal care service utilization, [AOR = 1.76, (95% CI = 1.16, 2.69)] were more likely utilized postnatal care service than their counter parts. Postnatal care service utilization was low in the study area. Maternal age, maternal health service utilization (antenatal care service and institutional delivery), maternal knowledge and couples’ attitude were major predictors for postnatal care service utilization in the study area. Concerned body should focus on the above issue to improve maternal and child health.