Community health education intervention to improve knowledge of maternal healthcare services among Hausa women in selected rural LGAs, Ogun State

Abstract

Objective: The study determined the effect of community health education intervention in improving the knowledge of maternal healthcare services among Hausa women in selected rural LGAs in Nigeria.

Methods: The study adopted a quasi-experimental design involving 2,800 Hausa women. One experimental group (EG) and one control group (CG) were drawn from LGAs with high Hausa populations. Using a power formula, 26 participants were recruited for each group through snowball sampling. Data were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and 4th-week follow-up. Data were analysed using inferential and descriptive statistics.

Results: The mean age for the EG was 27.46 ± 4.37 years, while the mean age for the CG was 28.23 ± 5.46 years. The ANCOVA result showed the intervention had a significantly large effect on knowledge after controlling for baseline differences (F (1, 49) = 120.71, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.711). Furthermore, there was an effect size of d = 0.07 (95% CI: -0.67 to 0.81) that was not statistically significant (p = 0.81) in the EG from 6 weeks post-intervention to 4th-week follow-up, which showed that the knowledge gained was sustained at 4th-week follow-up. The CG showed no change, d = 0.00 (-0.90 to 0.90) p = (1.00).

Conclusion: The community health education intervention improved knowledge of MHS among Hausa women in Ogun State. The study recommended that the Ogun State Primary Healthcare Development Board should embed community health education interventions into MHS to improve MHS utilisation among resident Hausa women.