Factors affecting utilization of quality antenatal care services among Myanmar migrants in Thai hospitals: Tak and Samut Sakhon Province

Abstract

This  cross-sectional  study  was  conducted  to  investigate  the  factors  affecting  the  utilization  of  quality  antenatal  care services  among  Myanmar  migrant  women  in  Thai  health  care  facilities  at  Tak  and  Samut  Sakhon.  The  sample  size  was 402 Myanmar migrant women selected by purposive sampling from Mae Tao clinic and Samut Sakhon hospital. The data were  collected  through  face  to  face  interview  using  structured  questionnaires.  Descriptive  statistics  were  used  to  describe the  characteristics  of  the  sample.  Chi-square  test  and  multiple  logistic  regressions  were  used  to  determine  the  association between independent  variables  and  utilization  of quality  antenatal  care.

The finding showed that 53% of the women utilized quality antenatal care services with 2 criteria; whereas 62.4% had early visit of antenatal care within the first trimester of pregnancy and 73.9% utilized antenatal care services at least 5 times or  more.  Utilization  of  quality  antenatal  care  services  was  significantly  associated  with  the  place  of  residency,  women’s age,  women’s  education,  number  of  pregnancy,  number  of  children,  intention  to  pregnancy,  staying  in  Thailand  in  first  3 months  of  pregnancy,  knowledge  level,  attitude,  legal  status,  presence  or  absence  of  health  insurance,  family’s  income, social  support,  satisfaction,  accessibility  and  availability  of  antenatal  care  services.  After  adjusting  with  other  variables, multiple logistic regression revealed that urban women were 3.5 times more likely to utilize early and regular antenatal care services  than  rural  counterparts.   Women  who  did  not  have  plan  to  go  back  to  Myanmar,  with  higher  knowledge,  higher social  support,  and  higher  satisfaction  to  antenatal  care  services  were  more  likely  to  utilize  quality  antenatal  care  services than  those  who  planned  to  go  back  to  Myanmar,  had  lower  knowledge,  lower  social  support  and  lower  satisfaction  level to  antenatal  care services with  OR 3.35,  2.82,  2.63  and  1.73  respectively.

From the result of this study, interventions such as public health education and health promotion concerning antenatal care  should  be  undertaken  especially  in  the  rural  area.  Moreover,  policies  to  encourage  utilization  of  ANC  by  migrant women  should  be  implemented  in  order to  increase the  rate  of utilization  of quality  antenatal  care services.