Abstract

Postnatal care (PNC) is defined as care given to the mother and her newborn immediately after the birth of the
placenta and for the first six weeks of life. There has been no research carried out on the utilization of PNC services
at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital. Therefore, this study was conducted in order to identify the barriers and factors
associated with PNC service utilization at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital, so as to enable the different stakeholders
at the facility level to design appropriate interventions on how to improve PNC services utilization at the facility
and the district at large. This study was conducted using a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional survey. Mothers
attending antenatal care clinics, and mothers on maternity wards under post-natal care were selected and a total of
384 mothers were interviewed. A checkup list was used to collect data concerning health facilities and mothers
utilizing PNC services were conducted. Quantitative data were analyzed using a statistical package for social sciences
(SPSS) version 22.0. It was found that 350(91.15) of the respondents had utilized PNC services while only 34(8.9%)
of the participants had not utilized the service. Marital status, distance to the facility, delivery place, immunization,
being given an immunization card, and being educated about early signs and symptoms of postnatal complications
had a statistically significant association with the utilization of PNC services. Married mothers P≤0.001; (aOR=0.80;
95%CI: 0.024-0.266) had reduced chances of utilizing PNC services compared to single mothers. Mothers within a
distance of 1-2 km P=0.021; (a0R=2.302; 95% CI: 1.132-4.681) were more than twice like to utilize PNC services
compared to those who were in a distance of>2km. It was also found that mothers who delivered from the general
hospital P=0.005; (aOR=4.615; 95%CI: 1.573-13.541) and health centers 2, 3 and 4 P=0.014; (aOR=2.892; 95%CI:
1.241-6.736) had increased chances of utilizing PNC services compared to those delivered from the villages or at
home. Immunization was positively associated with utilization of PNC P≤0.001; (aOR=8.040; 95%CI: 3.201-20.193).
Similarly, getting an immunization card was positively associated with P≤0.001; (aOR=8.040; 95%CI: 3.201-20.193).
Mothers who were educated about early signs and symptoms of postnatal complications P=0.001; (aOR=11.53; 95%
CI: 2.746-48.45) were more than eleven times more likely to utilize PNC compared to those who were not educated.
The utilization of PNC services at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital was high (91.1%) and the associated factors were
marital status, distance to the facility, delivery place, immunization, being given an immunization card, and being
educated about early signs and symptoms of postnatal complications had a statistical significance association with
utilization of PNC services.