Impact of Cultural Practices During Labor and Delivery on Maternal and Child Health Service Utilization and Associated Factors in Awi, East and West Gojjam Zones, Amhara Region, North West Ethiopia: Community Based Cross Sectional Study

Background: Cultural practices are traditional and customary practices of a particular ethnic or any other social group. The time of labor and delivery is a period at which such practices and beliefs present in every society in the world with a varied degree in type, depth, and dependency. Thus, this research was aimed to assess the impact of cultural practices during labor and delivery on maternal and child health service utilization and associated factors in Awi, West, and East Gojjam Zones North West Ethiopia. Method: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted on women of the reproductive age group who have at least one pregnancy history in Awi, West, and East Gojjam Zones from January 1 to May 30, 2020. The multistage cluster sampling technique was used to select 845 study participants. Data was collected through a pre-tested and structured interview questionnaire, entered and cleaned using EPI info version 7.2, and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was employed to assess the association of the variables and a P-value less than 0.05 was declared as statistically significant. Result: The study revealed that the magnitude of home delivery due to the impact of cultural practices was 31.2% with 95% CI: 28.3 to 34.4. Educational status (AOR=5.2, 95% CI: 1.8, 14.7), parity (AOR=2.7, 95% CI: 1.3, 5.4), cultural practice experienced during labor and delivery (AOR=2.1, 95% CI: 1.3, 3.4), history of abortion (AOR=2.0, 95% CI: 1.2, 3.1) and antenatal care follow up (AOR=33.8, 95% CI: 20.5, 55.7) had statistically significant association with impact of cultural practices on health service utilization during labor and delivery. Conclusion: This study showed that the impact of cultural practices on health service utilization during childbirth was high in Awi, West, and East Gojjam Zones. Working on antenatal care follow up and women education in a culturally acceptable manner may reduce the impact of cultural practices on health service utilization during labor and delivery