Knowledge and Attitude of the Community Towards Maternal Health Services at Health Centre IIIs in Buwekula County Mubende District.

Abstract

This study determined the level of knowledge and attitude of mother towards maternal health services in Health Center III in Buwekula County. To attain the purpose of this study, this set three specific objectives and these included: to determine the prevalence of maternal health services in Health Center III in Buwekula County; to find out the level of knowledge of mother about maternal health services; to find out the attitude of mothers towards community health services in Health Center III in Buwekula County. As a design, cross sectional community based household survey was employed; the research population involved mothers of reproductive age who consented and met the selection criteria below. A sample size of 227 was determined through formula (fisher's) will be used (Fisher, 1999); and a simple random sampling method was used to select respondents. Data was collected using an interviewer administered questionnaires containing both open and closed ended questions were used to collect data. Pretesting and expert judgment were used to establish reliability and validly of the instruments. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the data and figures and tables were used to present the research findings and this was done through SPSS version 16. The researcher followed all the ethical considerations and established in place quality control measures. This study found out that the level of prevalence of maternal health services in the area of the study was generally high. The study also found out that mothers had low level of different maternal health services. Regarding the attitude of mothers towards maternal health services in Health Center III in Buwekula County, this study found out that respondents generally have positive attitudes towards such services. This study found out that there is a positive correlation between level of knowledge and level of prevalence of maternal health services. This study also found out that positive attitude of mothers towards maternal health can also significantly lead to high level of prevalence of maternal health services. The study concludes that the level of prevalence of maternal health services in Health Center III in Buwekula County is high; level of knowledge about maternal health services in the area of study is low; attitudes of mothers in the area about maternal health services is positive; and level of knowledge and positive attitude towards maternal health services can significantly influence the level of prevalence of maternal health services among mothers. This study recommends that different stakeholders such as the government agencies, and local community leaders and village health team should work together to promote high level of maternal health services among mothers.