Maternal Health Service Utilization Among Women of Reproductive Age in Sidama Region, Ethiopia

Introduction: Maternal health service (MHS) utilization helps to decrease maternal morbidity and mortality. However, the existing evidence is not sufficient to design effective and efficient strategies. Objective: This study aims to improve maternal health service utilization among women of reproductive age in the Dale and Wonsho districts of the Sidama region, Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study will be carried out to assess the utilization and predictors of maternal health care. A phenomenological qualitative study will be conducted to explore perceptions, barriers, and facilitators of maternal health care. A cluster randomized controlled trial will be employed to assess the effect of health education on maternal knowledge about obstetric danger signs, birth preparedness and complication readiness plan, and maternal health service utilization (MHSU). The minimum required sample size is 1,104 for a cross-sectional study. To explore perceptions, barriers, and facilitators of maternal health care a minimum of 20 in-depth interviews, 3 focus group discussions per group, and 20 key informative interviews will be conducted. The minimum required sample size to assess the effect of health education on outcomes is 942. Data will be entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and exported to the SPSS and Stata software for analysis. Descriptive analyses will be carried out to get descriptive measures for the important variables of interest. The generalized estimated equations analysis will be used to assess the potential predictors of MHSU. The coding and analysis of the qualitative data will be done using the thematic content analysis technique by Atlas-Ti software and presented in narratives. Schedule and budget: This study will be conducted from October to August 2023; the total cost of the project will be 421,600 ETB (7,026.67 EURO).