Association between different types of mass media and antenatal care visits in India: a cross-sectional study from the National Family Health Survey (2015–2016)

Abstract

ObjectiveTo generate evidence for the association between different types of mass media and antenatal care (ANC) visits in India.DesignA cross-sectional study design, analysing data from India’s National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS-4), 2015–2016.SettingRural and urban India.ParticipantsFrom NFHS-4, women who had given birth in the last 5 years before survey administration were included in this study. Women with missing information about their number of ANC visits and their caste were excluded, leaving 187 894 women in the final analytical sample.Primary outcome measuresLogistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the association of ANC utilisation with mass media exposure.ResultsOverall, our study showed that high exposure to all four types of mass media was positively associated with making at least eight ANC visits. In rural India, women who had high exposure to newspaper/magazine (adjusted OR (aOR), 1.43; 95% CI, 1.31 to 1.57), radio (aOR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.37), television (aOR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.94 to 2.2) and movies (aOR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.2 to 1.47) were more likely to make at least eight ANC visits. In urban India, women who had high exposure to newspaper/magazine (aOR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.24), radio (aOR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.13 to 1.65), television (aOR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.24 to 1.55) and movies (aOR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.38) were more likely to make at least eight ANC visits.ConclusionsOur findings emphasise the need for increased awareness about adequate ANC visits in India, to improve maternal, neonatal and child health outcomes. Our study highlights that television penetration is broader than other forms of media and has the potential to create awareness about health in both urban and rural populations. These findings can inform ANC-related health awareness campaigns in the country to allocate resources to appropriate media sources to encourage healthy behaviours.

Exposure to different types of mass media and timing of antenatal care initiation: insights from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey

“…These two types of mass media had positive effect on utilization of ANC components such as frequency of ANC visits [ 2 ]. India and South Asia also reported positive association of mass media and utilization of maternal health services at all the three critical stages of pregnancy, however they did not go further to establish the effect of the association [ 4 , 5 ].…”

“…We included determinants of timing for ANC initiation based on the available literature and data [ 2 , 4 , 5 ]. At community level, the variables included were the place of residence (rural and urban), and the region of residence (Central, East, West and North).…”

“…Accessing ANC services within the first trimester has been associated with better outcomes during the antenatal period, because it allows for timely identification and management of high risk patients [ 2 , 3 ]. Unfortunately, there are large global disparities in ANC utilization, with sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia having the lowest utilization rates [ 4 ]. Early initiation of ANC ensures regular monitoring of the women’s health and screening for pregnancy-related complications [ 5 ].…”

Association between frequency of mass media exposure and maternal health care service utilization among women in sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for tailored health communication and education

“…Television and radio are the widely used media for creating awareness among a larger audience in SSA; nevertheless, print media such as magazine and newspaper, and outdoor media such as billboards and posters have also proven to be effective [ 20 ]. Mass media is shown to be an effective medium of reaching mothers at a large scale to enhance their utilization of maternal health services, especially in developing countries [ 4 , 19 ]. For example, women who read newspapers or reported watching television in Bangladesh were almost three times more likely to utilize a maternal health service [ 6 , 21 ].…”

Measuring What Matters: Data Absenteeism, Science Communication, and the Perpetuation of Inequities

“…The link between social vulnerabilities and well-being, including mortality and morbidity, is well established in the literature (Berkman, Kawachi, and Glymour 2014). People from different socioeconomic positions; geographies (urban versus rural; high- versus low-income countries); genders; and racial, ethnic, and caste groups suffer disproportionately on a variety of well-being indicators (Berkman, Kawachi, and Glymour 2014; Dhawan et al 2020; Williams and Mohammed 2013a). Often, these vulnerabilities are syndemic, speaking to the issue of underlying characteristics that make some groups and geographies more susceptible than others to risk factors and disease burden.…”