Abstract:

Background to the study Safe motherhood initiatives emphasize the importance of advance planning for childbirth and readiness for pregnancy-related complications. Nevertheless, many pregnant women continue to experience obstacles such as poverty, transportation difficulties, inadequate awareness, and poor decision-making autonomy, which limit effective preparedness. Birth preparedness and complication readiness is a process of planning for birth and anticipating actions in case of Obstetrics emergencies in order to reduce delay in seeking skilled care and as well maternal mortality. The study seeks to assess the perceived determinants of birth preparedness and complication readiness among pregnant women accessing primary health care services in Oshimili South Local government Area, Delta State. In line with the study two (2) objectives and research questions were drafted and a hypotheses to test for relationships between each variables. Methods: The study employed an analytical cross sectional survey design with a sample size of 337 pregnant women. A self - structured questionnaire was adapted and modified from JHPIEGO. Data collected were collated and analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation while inferential statistics using Chi-square and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. IBM SPSS version 25 was used to encode quantitative data for analysis. Reliability index was tested at 0.85 using Cronbach's Alpha which depicts a high internal consistency. Result: Result revealed a highest mean score of (M=3.51, SD=0.75) for knowledge of danger signs of labour followed by knowledge of danger signs of pregnancy. The effect of socio-cultural factors on BPCR showed that distance to health facility has the highest mean rating (M=2.89). Hypothesis on relationships between gestational age and knowledge of BPCR showed a Pearson correlation analysis of -0.009 and p-value of 0.876. The result indicated no statistical relationship exists between the variables. Conclusion: knowledge of BPCR are high among pregnant women but practical implementation remains inadequate due to financial, information and structural barriers. Recommendation includes nurses/ midwives should intensify health education on BPCR during ANC as well as actively involve family members to enhance shared decision making and emotional support. Government should provide adequate human resources, essential equipment and priorities referral systems to support skilled.