Understanding the association of mass media with the timing of antenatal care in Ethiopia: an impression from the 2016 Ethiopia demographic and health survey

Abstract

Introduction: Although the timing of antenatal care has a high potential of reducing maternal and child health problems and can be improved through different mass media exposure, it has been overlooked and remained a major life-costing delinquent issue. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the relationship between mass media exposure and ANC for further insight. Methods: We used the 2016 Ethiopian Health and Demography (EDHS) data. EDHS is a community-based cross-sectional survey that applies a two-stage stratified cluster sampling and it is a country-representative. We included 4740 reproductive-age women with complete records in EDHS dataset in this study. We excluded records with missing data from the analysis. We used ordinal logistic regression followed by generalized ordinal logistic to examine mass media relationships with timely antenatal care (ANC). We presented data using numbers, mean, standard deviations, percent or proportions, coefficient of regression, and 95% confidence interval. All analyses were performed using STATA version 15. Result: We examined the data of 4740 participants for the history of timely initiation of ANC and found 32.69% (95% CI = 31.34, 34.03) timely ANC. Factors such as watching television (TV) less than once a week [coef. = −0.72, CI: −1.04, −0.38], watching TV at least once a week [coef. = −0.60, CI: −0.84, −0.36], listening to radio [coef. = −0.38, CI: −0.84, −0.25], and use internet every day[coef. = −1.37, CI: −2.65, −0.09], are associated with the timely ANC. Conclusion: Despite its association with improving the timing of ANC, our findings showed mothers need additional support on the use of the media and the timing of ANC. In addition to the mass media, other covariates such as educational status, family size, and husband’s desire affected the timely ANC imitation. These need attention during implementation to avert the current. This is also an essential input for policy and decision-makers.