A thesis paper submitted to the Department of Health Education and Behavioral Science of Jimma University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Public Health in Health Education and Promotion

Abstract

Background:-Recent estimates suggest that more than 500,000 women die annually of pregnancy related complications ninety-nine percent (99%) of those deaths occur in less developed regions particularly Africa and Asia. In addition 3.9 million newborn and 3 million still births are lost each year. In Ethiopia MMR, which are around 673 per 100,000 live births, one of the highest in the world. Interestingly, a large proportion of these deaths could be prevented through timely and appropriate interventions such as delivery care. Objective:-To assess the intention of pregnant women in utilizing institutional delivery in Wolkite town, South Nation’s Nationalities and Peoples Regional State, Ethiopia by using the theory of planned behavior. Methods:-A community based cross sectional study design employed both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were carried out in Wolkite town. The theory of planned behavior was used as a conceptual framework. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select 320 study subjects from all pregnant women that were found in the town. For qualitative study Key informants were selected using “purposive sampling” technique to identify the study subjects from the study area. The data were collected through interviewer administered questionnaire then entered and analyzed using SPSS V.16.Bivariate and Multivariate analysis was carried out to identify the most important predictors of institutional delivery intention. Qualitative data were analyzed manually by summarizing into key thematic area Result: In this study 303 pregnant women were participated obtaining a response rate of 95%. The 26th percentile of mean score of the respondents on overall intention gives a score of 12 which implies that 74% of the respondents on overall intention scored above uncertain. Intending to utilize institutional delivery services is higher among younger women, those women who visit ANC service for the current pregnancy, those women who have favorable attitude towards utilization of institutional delivery and those women who had higher subjective norm while it is lower among older women. Conclusion and recommendation: majority of the respondents were intended to deliver in the institution based on TPB. But still a significant proportion of them were not intended to deliver in the institution due to different reasons. Women with higher maternal age were less likely intended to deliver in the institution. This implies that this group should be one of the priorities areas for targeting education campaigns on the benefits of safe motherhood programs