Abstract:
Background: - Women empowerment is a multidimensional global development goal. Women in
developing countries are exposed to disempowerment. Which leads women to mortality and
morbidity by inhibiting them from determinant maternal care like antenatal care. It is impossible to
decrease maternal mortality without sufficient and timely antenatal care. However, the association
between women empowerment and antenatal care utilization was understudied. Therefore, this
research aimed to assess the association of women empowerment dimensions with recommended
antenatal care utilization.
Objectives: - To assess the association of women empowerment dimensions with antenatal care
utilization among mothers attending delivery and postpartum services at Jimma town public
hospitals, Oromia Region, South West Ethiopia, 2022.
Method: - A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 305 mothers selected by
systematic random sampling from July 1 – August 31, 2022. A structured interviewer-administrated
questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected data were entered into Epi-data version
4.6 and then exported to the SPSS version 26. Pearson correlation, Bivariate and multivariate linear
regression were used to determine the association between the women empowerment dimension and
antenatal care utilization.
Result: Out of 305 respondents, 301( 99.1%) gives their complete responses. The finding shows that
about 12%; 95% CI(8.5-16.2) utilized recommended antenatal care contact.Multivariate linear
regression shows freedom of movement (=1.176 ,=0.00) a high self-efficacy (β=0.046, =0.00),
self-esteem(β=0.088, =0.00), an internal locus of control (β =0.062, =0.00), and labor force
participation (β =0.624, = 0.001), Age at first marriage (=0.087,=0.003)were all associated
with recommended antenatal care utilization.
Conclusion and Recommendation- Women empowerment dimensions have a positive and
statistically significant association with antenatal care utilization. Only one in ten mothers utilized
recommended antenatal care contacts. So to improve recommended antenatal care utilization by
mothers, empowerment of women by health professionals, hospitals, and other stakeholders is very
important.
