- Title
- Reasons for late booking of pregnant women at antenatal care clinics in King Sabata Dalindyebo Sub-district in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Creator
- Ntshanga, Nomvume Signoria
- Subject
- Pregnant women -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Prenatal Care Late antenatal care booking
- Date Issued
- 2018
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- Public Health
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10520
- Identifier
- vital:35592
- Description
- Background: The initiation of ante-natal care booking is universally recommended in the first trimester of pregnancy. While working in the Oliver Reginald Tambo district in the Eastern Cape Department of Health, the researcher noticed that late booking was the norm in all sub-districts, especially in the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) sub-district, resulting in impaired antenatal care and an increased potential for adverse outcomes such as maternal mortalities. Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the reasons for late booking for antenatal care by pregnant women in the KSD sub-district. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine reasons why women were booking late for antenatal in KSD sub district. Methods: Thirteen in-depth, unstructured interviews were conducted with late bookers (i.e., those who sought antenatal care (ANC) after twenty weeks of pregnancy) between July and August 2015. The interviews were recorded and, subsequently, transcribed by a reputable linguist from Walter Sisulu University (WSU) and analysed using Creswell’s thematic analysis model. Findings: The average gestational age of booking was 22 weeks (ranging from 22 to 28 weeks). Most women were teenagers and young unmarried women, most of whom were still attending school. All were unemployed. Most had experienced previous pregnancies. All these women delayed attending clinic early due to their ignorance of the exact gestational period for one to start the clinic. Although most of the women did not have direct reasons, the bulk of their reasons for delays were linked to long distances being travelled, leading to the payment of expensive taxi fees. This may also be attributed to cultural factors that seem to promote a veil of secrecy regarding pregnancy, the desire for visual evidence of pregnancy first and the practice of married women having to care for sick relatives. Conclusion: Poor access to clinics is a fundamental systemic failure and a major contributor and one of the reasons why women delayed in attending antenatal care clinics. Low socio economic status and cultural beliefs, coupled with long distance and expensive taxi fare, are other reasons for late booking.
- Format
- 79 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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